Season 9-6 -Mr Monk and the Alliance
by MonkNotJunk
Summary: Part 6 in our continuing saga. This is the second part to Mr Monk Meets Serendipity. As always, I do not own the characters to Monk. This is just one fan's vision of what might have happened.
1. Chapter 1

The ride from the courthouse was filled with a thick tension as a variety of emotions swirled around Natalie's head. Her husband had just pled guilty to two crimes that he did not commit, and did so with a smile on his face. Had he gone insane? He certainly hadn't talked about the move with her, or apparently with his attorney. Confusion, anger, fear, exasperation…all were feelings that she felt as she set silently next to Adrian and drove him to his car behind Attorney Harrison Powell's office. As she pulled into the driveway, she looked him in the eye waiting for some sort of explanation. None came.

"Thank you." was all he said, followed by "I'll be home sometime later this evening. Don't worry about dinner."

"What?!" she said, exasperated.

"You don't have to worry about dinner for me. Just go ahead and worry about yourself and Seri." He replied.

"Adrian!" she exclaimed.

He simply took her hand and kissed it. "Later. Natalie, it's okay." He replied, exiting the car and shutting the door.

She sat in her car dumbfounded as she watched him walk over to his car, put the key in the ignition, wave and drive away.

Finally, after about ten minutes, she shook herself and tried to give herself a pep talk so she could move forward.

"There has to be some rational explanation." She said to herself. "Adrian wouldn't just…He couldn't just…What in the heck was he doing?!"

* * *

Just outside of town, Adrian followed the instructions he had been given and drove up to the closed gate of a small windowless building. He pressed a button on a ticket kiosk and then used the touch screen to enter the 4-digit code he had been given. The gate opened. Driving into the compound, he parked his car and walked up to the entrance. He stood for 15 seconds and the door opened and a man in black clothing ushered him silently inside.

They walked down a hallway that was lined with doors without windows, all of them shut. When they came to the end of the hallway, the guard pressed a button and then used an iris scanner, which identified him biometrically, and slid open a door. The two men walked into a smaller room. In the room was a woman seated behind a computer.

"Good evening, Mr. Monk." She said. "Please be seated."

As the guard stood silently behind him, Adrian took a seat in front of her desk and was told to look into device where his biometric information was captured. He was then given a card with a second code on it and was told to memorize the code and then destroy the card. He had it memorized the moment it was handed to him and simply handed it back to her.

"I've got it." He said.

"You have it memorized?" said the woman.

"Yes. It's only 15 digits." He replied.

"Repeat them to me." She said.

"1487Z39TTU10894."

She read the numbers as he recited them and then simply looked up at him and nodded.

"You are free to go." She said.

Adrian stood and followed the guard through the next door.

"Press this button and then enter your code." He instructed.

Adrian complied with the request, at which point a written message appeared on a screen "SCAN EYES."

Adrian turned and looked at the guard who pointed to the iris scanner, at which point Adrian leaned forward and allowed it to scan his eyes. A door slid open.

The guard stood outside the door and motioned for Adrian to enter.

He walked into a conference room with large semi-circular table in the middle and a full screen at the other end.

The table was filled with people, some he recognized but others he did not.

"Mr. Monk!" said a man at the center of the table. "I am Jonathan Carter, the current chairman of the West Coast Division. Welcome to the Alliance. We've been expecting you. Please, take a seat next to Deputy Commissioner Stottlemeyer." He said.

He walked over and sat by Leland and the two men acknowledged one another with a nod. Looking back to Carter, he sat quietly as it was further explained to him why he was there.

* * *

Natalie sat on the couch in a semi-dark room waiting for her husband to come home. Her stomach was in knots and the earlier emotions had just gotten ten times worse. She had barely gotten her strength back. This had knocked it back out of her.

Finally, a little after one, she heard the downstairs door open. Listening to Adrian's footsteps come up the stairs, she heard him put his key in the door, turn it, and then listened as he quietly entered the apartment. Shutting and locking the door behind him, he took off his jacket and walked down the hallway next to the living room. He looked up, saw Natalie, and exhaled.

"Hi, sweetheart." He said, walking over to her and sitting by her side. "You been waiting up?"

She stared straight ahead and said, "Where were you? And are you going to tell me what is going on?"

He thought for a moment. "Yes." He said. "But not until tomorrow."

She turned and looked at him with frustration.

Sensing her mood, he said, "Natalie, I'm sorry. But I simply can't say anything right now. I promise though that by tomorrow, you will get it. I promise."

"Adrian, you promised me that we weren't going to keep secrets from one another." She replied with tears.

"And so, we aren't." he answered, wiping her tears away with his thumbs.

"It is specifically because of that promise that you get to know. But not until tomorrow. I can't say any more about it right now. I really can't. Please try to understand." He replied quietly. "It's late. I think we need to head to bed because we have a busy day ahead of us."

Natalie looked at him quietly then shook her head and sighed.

"I don't know how you get by with these things." She said.

"Because I'm cute?" he responded, trying to lighten the mood.

"No." she answered angrily. "You're not."

"I'm not cute?" Adrian said, dejected.

"Adrian, I don't know what just happened today. We were going to court and Harrison was going to make a motion to the judge that your charges be dismissed. I went into the courtroom thinking at least on our end we'd be free and clear of all of this. Then, you come bouncing into the room like you just won the lottery or something and happily plead guilty to crimes you didn't commit. You have to be a bit patient with me because I simply do not understand."

"And you need to be a little patient with me." He said. "It's going to be okay, Natalie. I promise. Now, let's go to bed. You will find out more tomorrow."


	2. Chapter 2

Natalie rolled over in bed at the break of dawn and found Adrian's spot empty. Squinting, she sat up on one elbow and looked around the room. He was nowhere to be seen, so, she got out of bed, put on her robe and walked over to the bedroom door. Looking out into the hallway, she saw the glow of the under-cabinet lights in the kitchen along with Adrian's shadow moving back and forth and she heard Adrian quietly whispering. Moving forward a little further, she saw one of the most precious sights she had ever seen. Adrian was holding Seri in the crook of his arm and walking her back and forth feeding her a bottle that he had evidently made himself. She put her hand up to her mouth and smiled with misty eyes and savored the moment.

When it was clear that the baby was done drinking, he set down the bottle next to the open laptop which had on its screen "How to Prepare Baby Formula". He then began walking the baby back towards the bedroom and ran into his watching wife. Looking up, he smiled as Natalie was smiling back.

"She s-stirred a little bit, and seemed a little restless, so I was just feeding her." Adrian whispered. "She seems happy now."

"I see that." Natalie responded. "How was her diaper?"

Adrian's eyes shifted and he talked as he went to lay the baby down. "You see, it's like this…" he said. "Seri and I have a deal. I will feed her a bottle and put her through college and she doesn't make any messy diapers."

Natalie laughed, "Oh, that's the deal you have, huh?" Natalie walked up beside him and placed her fingers inside Seri's blanket and felt her diaper. "Well, it seems like someone is already reneging on that deal." She put out her arms to take the baby, and Adrian gently transferred the bundle to her arms.

"M-make sure you use wipes when you're…you know…" he suggested as she took the baby over to a changing table and began to change her diaper.

* * *

About ten minutes later, Natalie stood in the kitchen making some tea when Adrian walked by holding a change of clothes and heading towards the shower. He stopped to speak.

"I'm going to go get into the shower. Should be out in about a half hour. T.K. is coming by at 8:00 AM to watch the baby for us. Need you to get ready as soon as I'm out. I've laid out a change of clothes for you." He said

Natalie furrowed her brow and asked "Do you mind telling me where we're going?"

"It's a surprise." He said.

"A surprise?" she asked.

"Yeah." He answered.

"What is it?" she said.

He knew the drill because he had been through it before, himself. "Can't tell you. Or it wouldn't be a surprise."

"You hate surprises." Said Natalie.

Adrian stopped and smiled. "Only when they involve surprising me. Surprising you actually feels okay." He said with a wink.

Natalie rolled her eyes and shook her head as he went into the bathroom and shut the door.

As he turned on the faucet, she walked back into the bedroom and saw that he had laid out for her a well-tailored pin-striped business suit. Wherever they were heading, they were going to be dressed to make an impression. Curiosity flooded her mind, followed by aggravation. What is it that he couldn't tell her?

* * *

At precisely 8:00 AM, the doorbell rang. Natalie, now fully dressed, answered. She was surprised to see both Leland and T.K. standing at the door.

"Good morning!" Natalie said with a bit of surprise in her voice. "Come on in."

T.K. and Leland walked through the hallway and towards the living room.

"Can I take your jacket, Leland?" asked Natalie.

"No thank you." He said. "We're going to have to be going. They are expecting us at 8:30."

"Us?" she asked.

Adrian came walking into the room in navy blue suit pants with a crisp white dress shirt and neck tie. Adrian normally made a good appearance, but most of his clothes were still the same brown color that had become a signature style for him. Only recently had he purchased a couple of other suits in very conservative and business-appropriate colors. As he stood in front of the mirror, straightening his tie he began speaking cryptically to Leland.

"Now, you're sure he will be there this morning?" he asked.

"Yes. Absolutely. He said that he would bring everything with him so you can sign off on things and get the ball rolling." Leland responded.

"Get the ball rolling? Sign off? What is this Leland?" Natalie said through narrowed eyes.

Adrian grabbed his suit coat and touched the back of Natalie's back to lead her towards the door, "You'll find out soon." He said. "We need to go."

After a couple of short instructions to TK, the trio took off down the stairs, jumped into Leland's SUV and took off down the road.

* * *

Arriving at the compound at 8:25, they went through the same ritual that Adrian had gone through the day before. Natalie's biometric data was collected and she walked through the high-tech security facility holding on to Adrian's arm as much for comfort as for security. They then walked down the same long hallway, but instead of going to the conference room at the end, they stopped two doors away from it on the left. Leland typed in his code and used the iris scanner and had Adrian and Natalie do the same as they entered a room before a room. Leaving their cellphones in this outside room, they then repeated the security procedure to enter the next room. It was a large office with television monitors along the far wall, a small seating area, and an executive desk with a large leather chair behind it and two smaller leather chairs in front of it. A man was sitting in the chair reading a document. When he looked up, Natalie was as shocked as Adrian had been the first time he experienced "the big reveal". It was Judge Nigel Sallinger.

"Ah! Good morning, Mr. Monk, Mrs. Monk, Leland. I'm very happy to see you. Won't you take a seat?" said the Judge as Leland grabbed a third chair from the seating area and sat it next to Natalie who had Adrian on her left.

"Good morning, Judge." said Adrian. "We're glad to be here. I haven't explained any of what is going on to Natalie, so I kinda hoped that you might start by cluing her in as to what this operation is about so that she will stop giving me the stink eye."

Natalie scrunched up her face. "Yeah, that's the face, right there…" he said, as she folded her arms and kicked him.

"Certainly, Adrian. I would be happy to. Mrs. Monk…may I call you Natalie?" Sallinger asked.

"You may." She said.

"Natalie. I am sure you are quite bewildered at what has happened over the past 24 hours." He began.

"That would be an understatement." She said.

"Let me explain. Yesterday, before our court appointment, I met with Adrian…" Sallinger said.

"He kidnapped me." Adrian interjected.

"Yes…well, there _was_ that…" the judge chuckled. "We met so that we could brief Adrian on a specific case we are pursuing which as serendipity would have it, you stumbled right into."

She couldn't help but think of the baby when he used the word 'serendipity' and mused within herself, "Seri would definitely not approve of these proceedings."

"You see, the unfortunate murder of Mr. Valdez and the subsequent charges against Miss Jones and Adrian are all a part of a larger picture. What Miss Jones found at the rental facility was just the tip of glacier-sized network of illegally trafficked antiquities involving various cultures and several nations. The artifacts that Angel was trading, for example, were looted largely from Native American burial grounds and archaeological sites. Across town, there is another facility which sells goods from China and India – also illegally obtained, but worth tens of millions of dollars a quarter. We have been tracking this network for about three years…" he said.

"Who is_ we_?" Natalie asked.

"We are 'The Alliance.' A small network of people from the justice system, government entities and antiquities experts, who are all pursuing the goal of stopping the flow of illegally gained artifacts around the world and cutting of the flow of money that they supply. For example, are you aware that one of the key avenues through which terrorist organizations fund their efforts is the sale of stolen artifacts?" he said.

"I was not." She replied.

"Yes, the videos where you see certain specific terrorist groups blowing up temples and knocking down monuments are real; but, they are also for propaganda sake – a kind of cultural terror. What they don't show you is that they do not necessarily destroy everything. Rather, they hold on to and even pursue the acquisition of archaeological artifacts to sell to investors and collectors at top dollar. Sometimes these items end up in museums, sometimes with private people. But it really is a big money game and few of the people who obtain an illegally-sold artifact actually ask questions concerning its origins. History is being destroyed and cultures stripped away throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East. The money gained from these sales is a real threat to innocent lives not only in their countries but also in our own."

"I see. So, what does this have to do with us?" Natalie asked.

The three men smiled at her as Sallinger continued.

"Natalie, we had been considering bringing your husband into The Alliance for several months. We weren't sure about Leland, given his position in the Commissioner's office, but have since checked out his record and realized what a wonderful asset he would be. Still, for obvious reasons, the existence of our organization is classified. Our operatives, both on the board and in the field, would be in real danger if some of the rogue elements in society knew who they were. Therefore, we are often slow to act when it comes to inviting fresh blood into the group.

But, your little murder case forced our hand. You see, Adrian had already discovered that there was antiquities trafficking going on. You just didn't know the scale.

We have been trying to find the kingpin for this region for quite some time and have been narrowing in. At this point, we have too much vested in the effort to allow a lackey like Sid Angel or a moron like Charles Keith to blow the whole case. We had to bring you in."

"Bring us in?" asked Natalie.

"Yes. What kicked it off was when Keith decided to file charges. We've had our eyes on him for a while, and while he is a collector of certain cultural artifacts, he's really nothing but an arrogant wanna-be who will never progress any higher than the seat he is currently in and frankly will be fortunate if he survives this without wearing stripes. Anyway, when we saw that he had filed charges against you, that was a little more light on the subject than we wanted to shed.

_What!? The famous Detective Adrian Monk charged as an accessory to murder? The Scandal! _The headlines. I can see them now, _"The Trial of the Century"_ as the press starts sticking their pretty little noses in the middle of the case and begins probing exactly where we do not want them to probe.

So…we concocted a plan." He said.

"A plan? What sort of plan?"she asked.

"We would go ahead and allow the charges to go through.

It was a given that I would be the judge on the case, since I tend to deal with these sort of murder cases and have no tolerance for true criminality. So, when I received the charges, the plan was to bring Adrian's case first and then do everything we could, without drawing special attention, to get rid of the charges."

He continued. "What we did not want was a jury trial. Powell is a fabulous attorney, and I expect he will be outstanding for Josie as well. But, what he was proposing, that we just dismiss the case outright, might have caused Keith to go ballistic. We could foresee him leaking information to the press and trying to shape a narrative that we did not want to be presented. So... we met with Adrian…"

"Kidnapped." Adrian corrected.

"We…_borrowed_ some of Mr. Monk's time and briefed him to the situation and told him of the plan." He said.

Adrian picked up from there. "I was to go and plead guilty to all charges. This would immediately take the case out of the hands of a jury and make Keith think he had won something. The press would be satisfied because they got their headline, but not the kind of long drawn out headlines that last days and weeks and months. They would have a short-term blip that would last for a day or two and then be revisited at sentencing."

"Sentencing, which, I suspended." said Sallinger.

He explained. "Pending the trial of Miss Jones. I obviously can't sentence someone on obstruction or complicity until I know the seriousness of the underlying crime they are alleged to have obstructed against or have been complicit in. Of course, as long as I have not sentenced the defendant, he is free to withdraw his guilty plea at any time. At the appropriate moment, I will accept that withdrawal and in due course exonerate him of all charges. I have actually already drawn up the papers, which Adrian will sign, just in case something were to happen to me. Your husband will not be prosecuted for anything he has done."

"But, in the meantime," said Leland. "Monk is free on his own recognizance, with no real restrictions, and will be able to help us tie the bow on this package so we can finally nab 'the guy'. Whoever that is."

Natalie sat and thought for a moment as she tried to take it all in. Then, she asked "where do I fit in?"

Sallinger smiled. "Natalie, your husband spoke very highly of your detective skills and your professionalism. And, frankly, he told us that if we wanted him to work on the case that you came together as a team. He will not work without you."

Natalie looked over at Adrian and smiled, taking his hand.

"What is it that we are going to do?" she asked.

Sallinger said, "You and Adrian will be boots on the ground investigating leads and visiting the various storage facilities of those who sell these items. We are finding that the sellers are the one area we can home in on, and perhaps get the links we need in order to find who is organizing the efforts and who sets up the networks. Buyers are easy to find, but, they are hard to convict because by the time we catch them with the goods, the chain of custody has so convoluted that it is difficult to prove that they knew they were purchasing stolen merchandise. The dealers, however, can be a more fruitful avenue of pursuit.

We have accumulated this list of facilities that we believe are involved in some sort of trafficking." He said as he handed Natalie a piece of paper. "We need for you and Adrian to go and somehow analyze these places to see which ones hold the most promise at linking the source to the kingpin.

Leland will be working the kingpin angle. We have watched with frustration as certain people we know were dealing in these goods were suddenly tipped off just before we were to swoop in on them. So, we believe that there is an inside source somewhere in the criminal justice system that may be just the resource we are looking for. Leland is positioned perfectly to pursue that investigation."

He concluded, "So…that's about it…This assignment is not without danger, but you all have come recommended by our sources within the FBI, CIA, and the Executive branch – plus, I have watched you solve cases for years and am frankly a fan."

* * *

Natalie smiled as the whole thing finally made sense, then she thanked him for explaining the whole situation and for bringing her in.

After Adrian signed the papers withdrawing his guilty pleas, to be used at a later date, the trio left the building. Natalie clung to Adrian's arm with love and pride as they walked. Looking up at him, she noticed he was smiling.

"You're pretty proud of yourself, aren't you?" she asked with a smile.

"As a matter of fact, I am." He said smugly.

"Well, you said it would make sense. I didn't believe you. But, you were right." She replied.

"I always am." He said.

"Oh boy." said Leland, rolling his eyes. "You realize you're becoming a little monster here, don't you Monk?"

"Just stating the obvious, Leland." said Adrian.

"I suppose you're right. You may not always be right, but your darn seldom wrong." Leland replied.

"And what else am I?" asked Adrian with his head held high in the air.

"What?" asked Leland.

"That was for Natalie. What else am I, Natalie?" he said as he touched every parking meter along the block.

"What? I don't understand." She said.

He stopped and looked at her and put on his goofiest grin, mugging for her.

"I don't know? What are you?" she asked.

The smile suddenly became a bit of a frown as they walked into the parking lot. Shrugging her hand off of his arm, Adrian decided he was going to pout his way back to the car. As he walked, Leland asked, "Monk, what is the matter with you?"

Adrian turned to answer and didn't realize he was just about to walk into a large pothole filled with muddy water. Stepping into the puddle, he stopped, contorted his face, and began flailing his arms. Natalie rushed over to him and helped to calm him.

"Wipe!" Wipe!" he said, as she reached into her purse and grabbed a wipe for him.

"Ohhhhhh….I've got it!" She exclaimed.

"What?!" He huffed.

"Cute! You're cute!" she said as she pinched the side of his face and kissed his cheek.

Leland looked at the two lovebirds and shook his head. "Get a room!" he said jokingly. "On second thought, get in the SUV. We have a lot of work to do."


	3. Chapter 3

Josie Jones was guided by a prison guard through the security doors at the prison into the visitation room. Waiting for her were Adrian, Natalie and Seri. It had just been two weeks since she had gotten out of the hospital, so she was still very weak and sore from the trauma; but, she had youth in her favor and was making a slow but steady recovery. Adrian and Natalie were declared Seri's legal guardians in accordance with Josie's wishes, though talk of adopting Seri had not come up. They were just glad to see Josie on the mend and were anxious to see where her case stood – as much for personal reasons as for an understanding of dynamics surrounding their work with The Alliance.

Josie smiled when she saw the Monks, and walked over to them in her orange jumpsuit giving Natalie a hug and Adrian a fist bump. Then, she looked down at Seri and cried.

"You're getting so big! Yes you are!" she said, looking down Seri who was kicking her little feet around and looking up at her mother smiling. She picked her up.

"Has she been to see the doctor yet, to check her progress?" she asked Natalie.

"Yes. I took her to the pediatrician yesterday. He said she's doing well. Picking up weight at a good rate. Vaccinations are up to date. Really, she's pretty much perfect. Didn't even fuss at all the whole time we were there."

"She must get that from her daddy." Said Josie. "Enrique was always so easy going. I was the rough and tumble one. Seri looks a lot like him."

"Girls often do look like their father's" said Natalie.

"Did Enrique have any relatives?" asked Adrian.

"No. Neither of us have any family – at least none we're close to. I have some cousins in Maine. Enrique had a brother, but he got wrapped up with some drug dealer and got killed."

"Parents?" Adrian asked.

"Enrique's parents lived in San Jose. His dad died of a heart attack about five years ago. His mother of cancer a year later. I never knew my father. He took off on my old lady when he found out she was expecting me. I heard he joined the army and moved to Kansas someplace. My mom never really wanted me. She let me know that I had basically ruined her life and she never got over that. She died when I was fourteen of alcohol poisoning." She said.

"That's awful!" said Natalie.

"Yeah. So, I was basically on the street from that point forward. When I met Enrique, he saw to it that I got my GED. He's really the only one who I think ever cared for me. He pushed me to be better. But, I think I'm cursed or something. Seri is the only real family I have, but I'm afraid for her being associated with me. I'm a jinx." Josie said.

"Don't say that." Said Natalie.

"No. You can't say that, Josie." Adrian agreed. "Some really crummy things can happen in life. For instance, my mother was not a warm person. She loved us in her way, but she couldn't really connect emotionally very well. My Dad took off for Chinese food when I was 8 and never came back home – at least not until I was well into adulthood. I carried all of that with me for years. Then, my first wife Trudy was murdered. Awful, awful stuff. But, after years of therapy and soul-searching, I've come to know that was not my fault. That's just the cards I was dealt in life. Now, in my 50s things have turned around. They will turn around for you too. You just can't give up."

Natalie smiled at her husband as he spoke. What a different man he was than when she first met him.

"Adrian's right, Josie." Said Natalie. "You cant give up."

"What do I have to look forward to?" said Josie. "I'm going to prison. I'm going to lose my baby, who is really the only thing I have in this life, outside of God."

"You have friends." Natalie responded.

"I have yous two. And, don't get me wrong, you have been wonderful. Amazing, really. But…" she said looking down. "We aren't exactly in the same place in our lives. You could be my parents. You have both been through a lot more life experience…"

"Different, experiences." Adrian interrupted. "We may be older, but what you have gone through, we haven't gone through."

"Yes, just because we're older doesn't mean that we understand everything that you do." Said Natalie.

"We understand where we have been. And, we take life as it comes to us. Sometimes that isn't so pleasant." Adrian said. "But sometimes, the best blessings are right around the corner. I spent a lifetime moping around and looking at the glass as being half empty. I still do, because old habits are hard to break. Still, I've also seen a lot of goodness in my life. I have a beautiful wife, who is my best friend. I have other friends. My health. A decent apartment. And…I'm able to be useful in society. I have been given gifts, by God, that I try to use for the good. I think that's why I was put here. As a friend of mine in D.C., Preacher Armstrong, said to me 'when we use the gifts God has given us to make the world a better and more just place, then in a sense we're doing God's work.' It took a long time for me to realize that this gift that I have, that I've called a gift and a curse, was really my calling. You, Josie Jones, have a calling as well. You just have to find out what that is."

Josie responded. "Right now, it looks like that calling is going to be a prison ministry."

"Has Harrison Powell been by to see you?" asked Natalie..

"Sure. He has seen me about once a day ever since I was able to receive visitors at the hospital." Josie said.

"What is he saying?" Natalie asked.

"He thinks that he can get them to drop the murder charge and says we're going to claim self-defense." She responded.

"You have a good case for that." Said Adrian.

"But, Mr. M it's me we're talking about." She said.

"So?" he replied."We've just been through all of that." He chided her.

"Josie." Natalie jumped in. "You need to listen to Harrison. He's very good."

"Natalie is right." Adrian said. "I wouldn't have picked him out, if I didn't think he could turn your case around. He is sharp. Don't hold anything back from him."

A guard walked up at that point and interrupted their visit.

"Miss Jones, your time is up. "the guard said.

Josie looked up at the guard and then at Adrian and Natalie. She leaned down and kissed Seri on the head, and began to cry. "You be a good girl for Mama. Okay? And you mind Mr. and Mrs. M."

She handed the baby to Natalie, who could tell that the mother's heart in Josie was full of heartbreak.

"Seri will be back, Josie." Said Natalie. "We will be tied up the next several days, but I'll bring her back in maybe a week and a half."

"Really?" Josie said as her countenance lifted. "That makes me very happy."

Adrian observed the dynamic between the two women. These were ladies who had both experienced loving something outside of themselves that was also a part of themselves. He loved Natalie more than he did himself, but he had never been a parent, nor had he seen good parenting modeled in his life. This was why it was such a curiosity, an odd thing, for him to behold. Odd, but wonderful. The little time he had with Seri, he had felt a bond with the little girl and felt protective of both Seri and of Josie. Was this what being a father was really like? If so, he liked how it made him feel.


	4. Chapter 4

The next couple of weekends were times of great change in the lives of the Monks. Pivot points. Both were bittersweet in their own way, and both were moments in time that they could look back to in future years and could say that life changed.

The first weekend was one in which Adrian gained a sister.

The wedding of Adrian's brother Ambrose marked the point in Adrian's life where he was finally able to let go of being his brother's protector. Ever since their father left, even though Adrian was the youngest of the two brothers, he had been thrust into the role of the more outgoing and world-wise brother, and in a sense, a caretaker. This burden was felt most immediately after their father left. Ambrose and Adrian's mother were so devastated that they shut themselves off from the world, staying in their rooms for two years as Adrian did all of the cooking, cleaning and shopping for the three of them. As the boys grew into men, Ambrose became more neurotic until a complete fear of leaving the house overtook him. Eventually, Ambrose worked it out to where he could be more independent by having everything delivered to the house that he needed; but, Adrian still felt a sense of responsibility towards him even during the years after Trudy's death when they weren't speaking.

For Adrian, Ambrose was an underachiever and a source of frustration. He knew the stuff Ambrose was made of, and he was sad to watch him be so self-limited. Of course, he couldn't be too hard on him. Look at how much it had taken just to get himself to some semblance of a normal life.

Ambrose had more capability than he knew or was willing to admit to himself, and Adrian wished that Ambrose could see it. For instance, Adrian had excelled beyond either man's wildest dreams, but so had Ambrose – just in a quieter way. Everything Ambrose did was quieter. Adrian got a college education. Ambrose taught himself eight different languages. Adrian had a successful career. Ambrose managed to make a career for himself writing manuals without ever having to leave the house for an interview. Both men were extremely intelligent, just as their parents had been. Both had photographic memories and great powers of deduction. The main thing that kept Ambrose from gaining an international name for himself, as his younger brother had done, was the front door to his house.

Still, there was an acceptance that Ambrose was doing his best. If this was all he would ever achieve, it was a lot. Where Ambrose was parked in life became a point of stability that Adrian Monk could always count on. But now, with the news of his marriage, Adrian was left feeling a little off kilter. He had barely been introduced to this Heather and now she was going to become his sister.

As he thought this through, he blurted out, "Sister! What am I going to do with a sister?"

"What?" Natalie asked, putting an earring in her ear as she got dressed for the wedding.

"I've never had a sister! What will I do with a sister? What do boys do with sisters?" he said.

"Um, talk with them. Have a relationship with them. Treat them as a member of the family?" she responded.

"Talk with her? Have you tried to talk with her? She's a ditz!" he complained.

"Adrian!" Natalie scolded. "She is not a ditz. That's rude!"

"Natalie, they met online when she was trying to assemble something. I doubt she could even assemble a bowl of cereal for breakfast if you had the bowl, spoon, cereal box, m-m-milk, and a note saying "Pour dry contents in here and cover with the white stuff." Adrian protested as Natalie rolled her eyes.

"Adrian, Ambrose loves her!" she said.

"Yeah! I know. Do you think she has him drugged or something? I mean, she's clearly not his type. His type was you. And you are nothing like Heather. Who names their kid after a plant? Heather." He said, as he stood in front of a mirror and tried to tie his tie.

Natalie came over and helped him with his tie. "Honey, you just don't like change. She evidently is his type because he proposed marriage to her, and he seems very happy with her."

Adrian grimaced. "You're right. He does. What is he thinking?"

"Adrian. You're not marrying her. Ambrose is. How many shots at happiness is he going to get being stuck in his house with the doors locked? It's time to let Ambrose grow up. You aren't responsible for him." She said touching his arm. "It is time that you let him go."

At the actual ceremony, things were much calmer. Oh, Adrian was still in a mood, and he managed to delay the ceremony by 10 minutes because he just had to fix the centerpieces on the tables that were set up in the yard for the reception that were not symmetrical and the candelabra on the porch for lighting the unity candle that was crooked. He was also irked when their brother Jack Jr., out of jail for now, stopped by for the wedding and began eating the M&M party favors that he had laid out. It wasn't so much that he was eating the favors before the reception but that he was taking a little out of each bowl, making it so that each bowl was no longer filled with exactly 100 M&M Candies. After he touched the third bowl Adrian walked over to him.

"If you eat another piece, I'll shoot you!" he said with a flash of anger in his eyes.

"Hey, Bro. Sorry, dude. I didn't know." Said Jack Jr. "What's the big deal? It isn't like the order of the universe is off because I hate a few pieces of candy."

"Um, yeah. It is." Adrian said as he moved a bowl out of reach.

"Okay. Okay man. Chill..." said Jack Jr.

"What does that even mean?" he responded. "Go sit by our father!" Adrian ordered.

Jack Jr. complied.

At long last, an accordion began to play the wedding march. As a small crowd of around 20 people, including Jack Monk Sr, Jack Monk Jr., Julie Teeger, and Leland and TK Stottlemeyer watched, Heather entered the yard from a small tent they had set up for her to get ready in. She was radiant and the dress she had chosen was the epitome of class.

As they were married by her preacher, a man in his 40s with long blonde hair and a ponytail, Adrian's attitude towards Heather soften- not because she had a 24/7 bubbly personality (which normally would have gotten on his last nerve) but because she made his brother happy and it had been many years since Ambrose had been happy. Ambrose was leaving the nest, and after the talk with Natalie, he thought about this moment as being Ambrose's one shot of happiness. He looked at how Heather looked at Ambrose and it warmed his heart. Change was always difficult, but seeing the two of them together made Adrian feel more comfortable leaving Ambrose in the hands of his new 'sister' Heather Monk.

* * *

The next weekend, was more difficult. It was the weekend that Natalie and Adrian had to say goodbye to Julie, at least for now.

The night before the move, Natalie had tossed and turned throughout the night. Adrian felt helpless to comfort her, not, for a change, because he lacked empathy but because perhaps, he had too much of it. He was having almost as hard of a time of it as Natalie. This was Julie, the little pre-teen girl that he had once ignored a thief for in favor of rescuing her pet fish. This was Julie, the teenager who he had to walk back to a Rock Band's bus so that she could use their restroom when they were stuck in traffic. This was Julie, the young woman with a crush that he had to explain the birds and the bees to. It seemed impossible that this young woman who was about to head across the country and that little girl he knew were the same person.

The sad moment arrived as Julie's car pulled up in front of the Monk apartment with a U-Haul in tow. Only, instead of Julie driving the car, it was a young man she had been dating, Travis Connors. Travis stopped the car and Julie jumped out running into the arms of her Mom and Adrian.

"This is it!" she said with a smile on her face. "I can't believe we're moving to Boston!"

"We're?" asked Natalie.

"Yes, Mom. Adrian I have a surprise. Don't freak.. Travis and I have some news." Julie said. "We're engaged!"

Natalie and Adrian both staggered back in shock. This was news that they hadn't expected. As Travis walked up to them after parking the car, he shook Natalie's hand and reached out his hand to shake Adrian's . Adrian looked at him with narrowed eyes and just nodded.

"This _is_ news!" said Natalie. "I wasn't aware it was this serious."

"I know, Mom. I wanted to lay low until things progressed a bit. But, we're very much in love and I know you will love him too." Julie gushed.

"Mrs. Monk, I promise you that I'll make Julie happy." Travis said.

"Shouldn't you have asked us first before you asked her to marry you?" asked Adrian.

Travis looked at Adrian. "Mr. Monk, I normally would have. But the proposal was sorta spur of the moment. Julie had been talking about her move and both of us were hurting so bad. I realized that I just couldn't live without her in my life. So, I proposed."

Both Natalie and Adrian were quiet for a moment and then Natalie took Travis off to the side and began to learn a little more about her future son-in-law. Julie walked over to Adrian and spoke to him as he stared at Travis and Natalie talking.

"Adrian. I know this worries you. Don't be. It really is okay. Travis is studying to be a doctor. He is a real quality guy. He loves me. And, well…he's my Trudy." She said, referring to the conversation that they had when she was a teenager.

This broke Adrian out of his trance and he looked at Julie with a crinkle in his eyes. "He's your Trudy?"

"Yes. I wake up every morning and I fall in love with him all over again. I see him throughout the day and, it's just right. I can't imagine life without him."

Adrian thought and shook his head yes. "Well then. If he is as good to you as you say he is, you have my blessing." He said.

Julie threw her arms around Adrian and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You are the best Dad!"

Adrian touched his cheek but did not wipe it away.

After about a half hour of talking on the street, Adrian and Natalie stood side by side with their arms around each other as they watched their little girl lean out the car window and wave goodbye. She had grown up so quickly and her leaving home set a melancholy mood for the rest of that weekend.

So much change in so little time. At least they had each other to provide an anchor in the uncertainty of life. Knowing this made it all the more sweeter as they found solace in each others' arms.


	5. Chapter 5

The package arrived via special courier at Adrian and Natalie's apartment. It was just the information that they were looking for. They had spent several weeks acclimating themselves to the various warehouses and shops that sold antique goods, but only on paper. Without actually going into a facility and meeting with the dealer, they would not know which ones were significant and which ones weren't. That is, unless someone had gone before them.

That someone was the district attorney of the State of New York. Long known as a watchdog against Antiquities smuggling, he and his informants had sent the Monks quite a catalog of suspected smugglers and had pinpointed three major dealers in the state of California that merited a visit. They could not just walk into one of the facilities, however, as themselves. Rather, they needed a cover.

Working with The Alliance's Cyber Team, they were given an entire web biography with falsified dates and identity within a few weeks' time. This biography included casting Adrian as a wealthy investor named Nico Gentili from Sicily and Natalie as his social heiress wife Maddie from upstate New York.

To supplement the roles, they had to change their appearances. To accomplish this, Adrian grew a full salt and pepper moustache and beard. It was the first time Natalie had ever seen him with facial hair, and she found it quite becoming. He was given a wardrobe befitting a billionaire, an armed agent who would play their chauffeur, a limousine, and an Italian sportscar for times when a chauffeur would have seemed inappropriate. Natalie was given dark brown hair and a change of makeup, a wardrobe befitting a fashion model, and her own baby blue Jaguar. The alliance even took care to rent a luxury condominium overlooking the San Francisco Bay and assigned one of their most trusted agents to assist them with all of their comfort needs, including babysitting.

For a week, they worked with vocal coaches and acting coaches in order to make their roles most believable. They were playing around with some heavy hitters and the last thing that The Alliance needed was for the investigation to be jeopardized by a sub-standard performance by their field agents. When it was determined they were ready, another agent, posing as their assistant, made an appointment to go and talk with the first of the dealers.

* * *

Meanwhile, Leland was working the case off to the side from his office in the Commissioner's suite. He wasn't allowed to tell anyone about what he was doing, and used special high-tech filtering devices in order to do his searches on police equipment without being monitored. He used an encrypted key card to build a case beginning with Angel, those who worked for him, people who he knew, people who his employees knew and how many of them actually had contacts within the San Francisco PD. It was a surprisingly large list. So, his next step was to find out how many of those contacts had some connection with Charles Keith. His theory was that Keith was working with someone on the inside to procure the items he had and that by finding out who that someone was, he could possibly start making connections between that someone and the person who would turn out to be the kingpin.

Charles Keith was too busy trying to concoct a story for his case against Josie to pick up on anything happening around his office, not that he cared much about the girl. He was mainly concerned about covering his own rear end and with getting the most serious conviction possible in order to take out Adrian - who, as far as he knew, was still awaiting sentencing. This gave Briggs a little opportunity to do some investigative work on his own, not knowing the magnitude of the issue at hand. He simply wanted to make it so that justice prevailed, and he knew this was not Keith's mindset.

* * *

Josie was arraigned and had her preliminary hearing set in very short order. Harrison hired a stylist to redress her from her t-shirt and blue jean look to that of a young college-aged professional. She cleaned up quite well. Then, on the day of her preliminary hearing, he met her as soon as the bailiff assisted her to her seat. Whispering words of encouragement in her ear, he urged her to stay strong and positive and to look innocent because she was.

Judge Sallinger entered the courtroom and was given a folder with some papers in it to read. Having scanned its contents, he began the session by removing his reading glasses, holding them in his hands and speaking directly to both sides in the case.

"We are here today to consider State of California Case Number 35789102, the State of California versus Miss Josephine Jones. Having already pled not guilty before me in open court, I will now commence with this preliminary hearing. This is not a trial. Rather, it is a hearing to determine whether there is probable cause on each charge to bring the accused forward to stand trial at a later date. Are there any questions before we begin?"

Neither side had questions.

"It appears that we have several charges here. The most serious of charge is Murder One, followed by illegal smuggling, followed by possession of a stolen weapon. I know at the arraignment that Miss Jones pled not guilty to all charges. Do you wish to change your plea?" said the judge.

"Yes, your honor. On one count." Said Josie.

"Is that correct? Counsel?" asked Sallinger, surprised.

"Yes, your honor. We wish to address the charge of possession of a stolen firearm." Said Harrison.

"Alright. And how do you plea, Miss Jones?" asked Sallinger.

"Guilty your honor. With extenuating circumstances." Said Josie.

"Your honor, I object." said the Prosecutor.

"On what Grounds?" asked the judge.

"On the grounds that said circumstances have not been established and we are not here today to present the defense case but to show that there is ample evidence to try Miss Jones." He answered.

"Mr. Powell?" asked Sallinger.

"Your honor, we are prepared to enter the guilty plea today, and will hold off on explanation of the extenuating circumstances until the actual trial. All of this will tie together, I assure you, and will show that my client is not guilty ad the charges state."Said Powell.

"Very well then, I accept the guilty plea and will sustain sentencing for that plea until after the entire case has been presented. Mr. Prosecutor, having heard the not guilty plea on the other charges from the defendant, I would like to hear what the state's side of the story is. Are you prepared to provide that detail?" he asked.

"We are, your honor. Your honor, the state will attempt to prove that Miss Josephine "Josie" Jones did with malice aforethought steal a firearm from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Monk, take it to the Victim's place of business, lied in wait for the victim to be alone, and then approached the victim within his office and shot him dead beside his desk. We are also prepared to show that the victim and her late boyfriend, Enrique Valdez, were engaged in illicit smuggling of artifacts from Native American burial grounds, that a deal went bad between them and Mr. Angel, and that Enrique was killed in the mix. Miss Jones, then decided to take vengeance for her lost love and this vengeance was the motive behind the slaying." Prosecutor, Gregory Hook said in his opening statement.

"Alright, Mr. Hook. I will be interested in hearing how you prove all of this. Call your first witness."

"Thank you, your honor. The Prosecution calls Lieutenant Tommy Briggs."

* * *

The Monks arrived at their appointment at the San Francisco Antiques Emporium, fashionably late. Their limousine pulled up to the side of the building and their undercover agent Chauffeur exited the driver's side and opened the door for Adrian and Natalie, or rather….Nico and Maddie.

The owner of the facility, Douglas Campen came out to meet them as "Nico" looked nervously around.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gentili. I'm happy to meet you. Won't you come in?" he asked.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Campen? I presume?" asked Nico in a heavy Italian accent.

"Yes, sir. You can call me Doug." Said the man.

"Doug. Are you certain that this store is safe for our use?" Nico asked.

"Positive. When you go inside, it's just going to be your typical antique mall. But, I will lead you back to a section in the back that is sound proof. That is where we store our most precious items."

"I see." said Nico. "Alright, then shall we go forward?"

"Absolutely." Said Campen as he led the Monks inside the building.

Once inside the inner sanctum, the Monks were stunned by the shelves of antiquities that were there hidden from public view. There had to be hundreds of millions of dollars worth of items from ancient Persia, Greece, Rome, and the Near East.

"Mr. Gentili, my research department has looked into you and saw a picture of you with some Phoenician statutes behind you in your home. Is that what you are looking for today?" he asked.

"Very perceptive of you, Mr. Campen." Said Nico. "Actually, that photo was from, I believe our home in London? Is that right Maddie?"

"No, Nico. London is decorated with Israeli artifacts. The Phoenician artifacts are in our home in Monte Carlo." said Maddie.

"Ah yes. You are right my love." He said. "My memory isn't what it used to be I'm afraid, so you'll have to bear with me. No, Mr. Campen. We have just acquired Oceanfront property in North Palm Beach, Florida. I got it for a steal at $49,000,000. We were hoping to decorate it with items from ancient Persia and Babylon."

"Excellent choice sir. I have several collections that might wet your whistle." Said Campen.

"Wet my whistle?" Nico asked with confusion. "What is this whistle?"

Maddie interrupted, "It's just an expression, Nico. It means to peak your interest."

"I see. " he responded. "Alright then, immerse me then, Mr. Campen. Show me what you've got."

* * *

Several witnesses who had been at the crime scene were allowed to come forward and testify as to what they saw. Powell went very easy on them. His guns were trained on Keith.

Keith came forward and was sworn in and interviewed just like the others had been. He told of showing up at the crime scene and finding Josie and Angel both shot and covered in blood. Angel had been shot twice which is why he believed she was the assailant. He also spoke of Detective Monk finding artifacts wrapped up in her jacket. Adrian was not to testify due to his own legal jeopardy, but Briggs had corroborated that part of the story that this is what had been found. When the defense finally had its turn, Powell was ready. This was going to be fun.

"Mr. Keith. Oh, excuse me, Captain Charles Keith of the Homicide Division of the San Francisco, Police Department…Thank you for coming today. I just have a few questions concerning your testimony." Powell began.

"Have at it." Said Keith.

"Thank you Captain Charles Keith. Now, lets start with your credentials. You have been on the police force for how long?" asked Powell.

"Fourteen years." Said Keith.

"Fourteen years, and you've progressed this far? Impressive. You must have had some really big cases that allowed you be seen as such a shining star in the police force that you were able to attain that rank at such a young age. How old are you? Forty-four? Forty-five?"

"Thirty-eight." Said Keith.

"Thirty-eight." Powell repeated. "And, what sort of other cases have you worked on in your career?"

"Objection your honor." Said Hook. "Irrelevant."

"I'm trying to establish the witness's credibility your honor." Said Powell.

"Overruled." Said Sallinger. "You may answer."

"I graduated the police academy and then got my Masters Degree in Criminal Justice from Stanford." Keith began.

"Excuse me sir, but that wasn't the question. What kind of cases have you worked on?" asked Powell.

Keith squirmed, "I have had a wide variety of cases in my career."

"Homicide cases?" asked Powell.

"Yes. Homicide cases." Keith answered.

"Ones that you were actually the prime detective on?" asked Powell.

"No. None that I was the prime detective on." Said Keith.

"Then there must be some other sort of shining example of your police work that made you stand out from all of the rest in order to attain your current position?" Powell responded.

"Objection, your honor. Calls for a conclusion." Said the Prosecutor.

"Sustained." Said Sallinger.

"I withdraw the question. Now, are you familiar with the gathering of evidence Captain Charles Keith?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Said Powell.

"And, you said you arrived at the scene and Mr. Adrian Monk was holding an item, an ancient figurine, that multiple witnesses have said was found in Josie Jones' jacket?" asked Powell.

"Yes. Miss Jones had stolen the item from the facility." Said Keith.

"Your honor, I ask that last comment be stricken on the basis that it is speculation." Said Powell.

"Very well. Strike that from the record." Said Sallinger.

"You saw Mr. Monk with the item from Josie's Jacket and you confiscated that item, correct?" said Powell.

"Yes, that is correct." Said Keith.

"But you didn't actually see Josie Jones putting the item in her jacket?" said Powell.

"I did not." Said Keith.

"And there were no fingerprints?" asked Powell.

"Fingerprints do not adhere well to ancient stone items such as this." Said Keith.

"I see that you have a notepad and paper here." Powell said. "It looks like it comes from the courthouse."  
"That is correct. They supplied them to us when we first entered the courtroom." Said Keith.

"They?" asked Powell.

"The prosecution team. It was for making notes." Said Keith.

"I see. How do we know that they supplied them?" said Powell.

"What do you mean?" asked Keith.

"How do we know that you didn't just take them? Or that perhaps someone placed the items in your hands, or any other number of scenarios?" said Powell.

"Because I told you." Said Keith. "And there are corroborating witnesses that this was so."  
"I see. Who are the corroborating witnesses that actually saw Josie Jones take the item in question?" asked Powell.

"Sir?" asked Keith.

"Captain Charles Keith. You adamantly stated that Miss Jones stole the artifact in question and that she stole it from the shop. Surely you have witnesses who will corroborate that story?" asked Powell.

"There are no witnesses." Said Keith. "The item was in the girl's possession . It was in her jacket."

"In her jacket. But how do we know that someone didn't plant it there? There are no witnesses by your own testimony. Are you some sort of Shawn Spencer Psychic Detective or something, Captain Charles Keith?" asked Powell.

"No. That guy's a fake." Said Keith. "I suppose we don't' know 100%."

"What percent do we know then, Captain Charles Keith?" asked Powell. "95%, 80%, 75%? Do we even know 50%. I mean surely you would stake your career on a 50/50 chance that Josie Jones not only took the item but that she stole it. I mean, she could have taken it for evidence to hand over to the police…"

"Objection your honor. Speculation." Said Hook.

"Sustained." Said Sallinger.

"What percentage of certainty do you have that Miss Jones actually stole the item in question?" asked Powell.

"I can not be certain." Said Keith.

"What was that? Captain Charles Keith?" asked Powell.

"I can not be certain." Said Keith.

"I see. The defense asks that it be recorded that the chief witness for the prosecution is not certain as to his own story that Miss Jones stole anything from the scene of the crime." Said Powell.

"Duly noted." Said Sallinger, as Keith adjusted his collar.


	6. Chapter 6

"I like you with a beard." Said Natalie, flirtatiously tickling Adrian's chin.

Adrian grinned uncomfortably and twitched his shoulder at the same time. He always had a hard time taking compliments. "Yeah? Well, don't get used to it. It itches."

"They say that passes in a few weeks. Give it time. You look…distinguished." She said as she cuddled up next to him.

"Sweetheart, we're working." He said, blushing.

Natalie made a purring sound, coupled with a tickle on his side.

"Stop!" he whispered, pulling away. "They're going to hear us!"  
"Hey handsome. You come here often?" she teased.

"Woman! Restrain yourself!" he replied as if he were irritated. She just laughed. It was such fun to tease him and no matter how much he protested she knew down deep he liked it too.

"Here we go!" said Campen as he rolled a cart full of artifacts into the room. " I think you will find these items to your liking."

'Nico' and 'Mattie' stood as Campen opened a box and brought out flat carved stone panel.

"This is a sampling of one of the many items we have here in our collection." Campen said, showing them a relief sculpture of a winged man, so iconic for that particular period of time.

Nico walked over to the item and pulled out a magnifying loupe out of his pocket. Examining it closely, he could tell that it was the real deal.

"Exquisite." He said in his Italian accent. "Babylonian?"

"Very good. It is 3000 years old and comes from Nimrud in Iraq." Campen explained.

"Authenticated?" asked Nico.

"Of course, Mr. Gentili. I would not be showing it to you if it were not." Campen replied tersely.

"It's quite lovely." Said Mattie. "Are there more like it?"  
"Yes. We have managed to acquire dozens of high-quality items such as this over the past couple of years." Campen replied. "Some from Nimrud. Some from Syria. With the instability over there, the market has been quite fruitful for those in the antiquities market."

Jackpot. Having an item of this quality from the Babylonian city of Nimrud was a red flag, but having dozens of such items could only mean one thing – the Monks were currently standing in an establishment that trafficked the very items they had been looking for . Given the timing of when they were acquired, they were items that were likely looted by terrorist organizations to prop up their enterprises.

* * *

Harrison Powell continued his cross-examination of Keith.

"Now, Captain Charles Keith, are you an expert in forensics?" asked Powell.

"I have studied it." Said Keith.

"But you are not an expert?" Asked Powell.

"I have studied it." He responded.

"You have studied it?" asked Powell.

"That's what I said." Said Keith.

"But you are not a forensic pathologist?" asked Powell.

"No." said Keith.

"Moving on." Said Powell.

"Is this the weapon that was used in the shooting?" asked Powell, holding up Monk's gun.

Keith looked at the gun. "Yes."

Setting it down, Powell walked over to the evidence table and picked up Angel's gun.

"What about this one?" he asked.

Keith looked at the gun. "That would be the gun that belonged to the victim, Mr. Angel."

Powell set other gun down.

"Now, Mr. Keith. Is it your understanding that both of these guns were fired on the day in question?" he asked.

"Yes." Replied Keith.

"And sir, is it your understanding that two shots were fired from the gun carried by Miss Jones and one from the gun carried by Mr. Angel?" Powell asked.

"That is correct." Said Keith.

"Is it also your understanding that Mr. Angel was shot twice? Once in the shoulder and once in the chest?" Powell asked.

"Yes. That is correct." Said Keith.

"And Miss Jones was also shot, correct?" asked Powell.

"Yes. In the abdomen." He responded.

"It was a very serious wound, correct? One in which she was touch and go for a while, correct?" asked Powell.

"I'm not a medical expert." Said Keith.

"But you did know Miss Jones's life was in serious jeopardy, correct?" asked Powell.

"According to the doctors." Said Keith.

"Sir, I will bring forward the doctors to testify if necessary. Miss Jones was hit in the abdomen by a bullet which went through her liver. They had to remove part of her liver just to stabilize her. To save the court's time, may we just stipulate that yes, she was injured very seriously?" he asked.

"Objection your honor." Said Hook.

"On what ground?" asked the judge.

"Calls for speculation. The witness is not professionally qualified to answer the question as asked." Stated Hook.

"Sustained. Rephrase your question, Mr. Powell." Said the judge.

"Alright. Captain Charles Keith, when you arrived at the scene, where was Miss Jones?" he asked.

"She was lying on the floor being attended to by EMTs." Said Keith.

"Was she conscious? " he asked.

"I do not believe so." Said Keith.

"Was she bleeding?" asked Powell.

"Yes. There was blood." Said Keith.

"A lot of blood?" asked Powell.

"There was a fair amount of blood, yes." Keith answered.

"A fair amount?" said Powell. "Was there blood on her shirt?"

"Yes." Said Keith.

"Pooled blood on the floor?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Said Keith.

"Blood on Mr. Monk who had tried to stop the bleeding?" asked Keith.

"Objection your honor." Hook interrupted. "Assumes facts not in evidence."

Powell stopped. "Your honor, Lieutenant Briggs already testified that the scene was very grisly, and that Mr. Monk was also covered in blood because he was applying pressure to the wound. I am merely trying to establish that the witness was aware of the seriousness of the situation for Miss Jones."

Sallinger looked at Hook. "Mr. Hook, is this really how we wish to spend the courts time? The girl was in ICU. Clearly her wounds were serious."

"Fine. I withdraw the objection." Said Hook.

"You may answer, Mr. Keith." Said Sallinger.

"Monk was covered in blood, yes." Said Keith.

"From the wounds on Miss Jones?" asked Powell.

"Presumably." Said Keith.

"So, Angel was shot twice. Once in the shoulder and once in the chest. Miss Jones was shot once in the abdomen." Said Powell.

"That is correct." Said Keith.

"Any idea who shot first?" asked Powell.

"Excuse me?" asked Keith.

"Is there any way of knowing whose gun went off first? I mean, these were both semiautomatic handguns and as such were capable of being fired off in quick succession. Is there any way of knowing whether Miss Jones or Mr. Angel fired the first shot?" Powell asked.

"A forensic pathologist might be able to ascertain to some degree." Said Keith.

"Perhaps. But there were no eye witnesses?" Asked Powell.

"Not to all shots, no." said Keith.

"Not to _all_ shots?" asked Powell.

"No. In Mr. Monk's statement, he indicated that he came in just as Josie Jones had fired off the shot that killed Mr. Angel from Mr. Monk's Beretta." Keith stated.

"And where was she at the time?" asked Powell.

"According to Mr. Monk's statement, she was lying on the ground." Said Keith.

"Was she already shot?" asked Powell.

"Yes. According to his statement, she was already shot." Keith responded.

"So, we have Mr. Angel firing off his weapon, seriously wounding Miss Jones prior to Miss Jones firing off her weapon and killing Mr. Angel, is that correct?" Powell asked.

Keith responded affirmatively.

"But we have no idea, really, from any eyewitness testimony or, at this point, forensic evidence, which shot came first -the shot to the shoulder or the shot to Josie's abdomen." Powell stated.

"We do not." Said Keith.

"And yet, my client has been charged with Murder 1." Said Keith. "How do we know that the shots were not self-defense?"

"Miss Jones had the means and the motive for killing Angel." Said Keith.

"May I remind the witness that allegedly having the means and a motive for committing a crime does not mean that one has actually committed a crime. Many people have the ability to commit crimes but never do them. So far, the prosecution has not shown that Miss Jones went to the establishment with a motive to kill anyone." Powell said.

"She brought a gun." Said Keith.

"Yes. She did. Her boyfriend had been killed. Might her motive for bringing the gun simply have been self-defense?" asked Powell

"Objection your honor. Speculation." Said Hook.

"Sustained." Said Sallinger.

"In your professional experience, have you seen people bring firearms places, even ones not registered to themselves, when they are in fear for their lives?"

"I suppose." Said Keith.

"You suppose a lot of things, Captain Charles Keith." Said Powell.

"Objection your honor! Badgering the witness!" said Hook.

"Sustained." Said the judge.

"I have no further questions, your honor." Said Powell.

"You may step down Mr. Keith." Said Sallinger. "The court will recess for one hour at which point I will render my decision as to whether or not there is probable cause to try Miss Jones."


	7. Chapter 7

Adrian and Natalie, as Nico and Mattie, looked through the items that Campen had brought out for them to review. Mattie appeared eager to spend her husband's fortune, but Nico was not an easy sell.

"What will you do with it?" he asked, speaking with his hands over one item that she feigned to "adore."

"Oh, Nico, darling. Can't you see this item in the hallway display case? " she asked.

"Pffft! Putting it in a case! That is what you want to do with, what? $100,000 of my money?" Nico asked.

"Sir, this item is $750,000." Said Campen, gently placing the item in the box.

"Seven-hundred-fifty? Why so much?" asked Nico.

"Prices are going up as it becomes more and more difficult to acquire these types of items." Said Campen.

"But, you have said that you have acquired dozens of such items. Seems as if they are plentiful." Said Nico.

"We were fortunate to run into a dealer just outside of Beirut. He has been able to go in and out of Syria and Iraq and has acquired much for us." Said Campen.

"Who is this _us_ you speak of? I thought you were the owner. Are you not the owner? I need to know who it is I am working with." Said Nico.

"Well, Mr. Gentili, I have a silent partner, and he remains silent for a very good reason. This is our arrangement" Said Campen.

"Listen, Mr. Campen. You are not the only shop in town. I do appreciate the quality of the items that you have brought out to me today. But…I am not convinced." Said Nico.

"Not convinced to buy?" asked Campen.

"While my wife would go spend all of my money on ornaments to decorate cabinets and gather dust, I have a much grander vision in mind. I picture turning the entire first floor of our home into something akin to a museum. I need larger, more grand items, which unfortunately you do not seem to have." Nico said, taking Mattie by the hand and beginning to walk towards the door.

"I do not currently have large pieces to show you. That is correct. But that doesn't mean I cannot get them." He responded. "Of course they will come with a price."

"Money is of secondary importance." said Nico. "I want larger, high quality items. Rare and exquisite."

"We can get those for you, sir." Said Campen.

"I…am still not convinced. Mattie, let's go." Said Nico.

"Mr. Gentili, I can get you whatever you want if you are willing to pay for it. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to take you to the source himself and you can pick out whatever you want." Said Campen.

"The source?" asked Nico.

"Yes. I am flying to Lebanon this weekend. " said Campen.

"A trip to Beirut?" asked Nico.

"Yes." Said Campen.

Nico stopped and thought for a moment. "Let me check my schedule. I will get back with you."

"Okay. Let me know by tomorrow afternoon. I'll need to let him know you are coming." Said Campen.

"I will." Said Nico as he and Mattie left the showroom.

* * *

After an hour had passed, the door to the judge's chambers opened and Judge Sallinger walked out holding a folder. The bailiff announced "All rise!" and the Judge told the audience that they could be seated.

"Now, Mr. Hook. You have brought before the court several charges against this young lady we have sitting in the courtroom with us today. Very serious charges. Murder one is the most serious of these charges.

The court has reviewed the evidence that you have presented and the witness testimony. I must be honest with you. Your case is very circumstantial and I'm not sure that you will be able to convince a jury. However, I do see enough evidence to take it to trial. Miss Jones admittedly stole a firearm. Possession of a stolen firearm is a serious offense; but, the penalty for stealing the item is very different if it were to be stolen with a malicious motive versus for self-defense. At trial, you will need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Miss Jones had malicious intent and that she, as you said, 'lied in wait' for the victim. So far, you have not met that threshold.

As to the charge for smuggling, in truth, your evidence is lacking. You were not able to show through eyewitness testimony or through forensics that Miss Jones actually stole anything. Yes, she had the item in her jacket. But Mr. Powell pointed out various scenarios where there is another alternative explanation. Your witnesses did not counter that explanation in any credible way. As a matter of fact, they were forced to admit the weakness of that case.

Therefore, I have come to the following conclusion.

Miss Jones is to be held over at the San Francisco Women's Penitentiary to stand trial for the charge of first-degree murder. The sentence for possession of a stolen firearm will be delayed pending the outcome of that trial. As to the charge for illegal smuggling, the court does not find that you have provided ample evidence that Miss Jones had anything to do with that, and in terms of the specific item that was found in her jacket it hereby dismisses that charge with prejudice.

Miss Jones undoubtedly shot Angel. But I will warn you, I am not convinced that it was not self-defense, and you have a substantial burden of proof to overcome at a jury trial if she is to be convicted.

Does everyone understand my ruling?" Sallinger asked.

"Yes your honor." Said both the Prosecution and the Defense.

"Very well then. In accordance with her constitutional rights for a speedy trial, I set the date and time for her trial to be here, at this courthouse, sixty days from today, beginning at 9:00 AM. If there are no other questions, court is dismissed."

* * *

"Well. That went a little better than even I anticipated." Said Powell to Josie.

"What does it mean?" asked Josie.

"It means that the judge doesn't buy their story. He's a tough judge too. I've been before him several times. If he isn't buying it, I feel good about our chances before a jury." Said Powell.

Josie looked hopefully at Powell as the Bailiff took her away and Powell walked out of the room looking confident and smiling as he passed by a sulking Charles Keith.

* * *

Adrian and Natalie set up a meeting with key members of The Alliance at the compound that evening. Stottlemeyer was there as was Sallinger and Jonathan Carter, the division head. After explaining what they saw and what the offer was, there was a time of discussion.

"I don't know." Said Leland. "I don't like it. "

"But this is an unparalleled opportunity." Said Carter.

"Very dangerous." Said Sallinger. "If they catch on…"

"How would they catch on?" asked Carter.

"A million ways." Said Leland. "What if Adrian is asked something in Italian? What if he slips into one of his Monkisms?"

"Monkisms?" asked Carter.

"Adrian suffers from OCD. He isn't' struggling with it as much as he used to, but it is still present." Said Natalie.

"So…Nico has a bit of OCD. We can cover that." Said Carter.

"And what about the Italian? Monk do you know any Italian?" asked Leland.

"Molto Poco." said Adrian. "If only Ambrose were able to come along."

"Ambrose?" asked Sallinger.

"My brother. He is fluent in eight different languages." Said Adrian.

"Well, why can't he?" asked Sallinger.

"Because he is agoraphobic. He won't leave his house." Said Adrian.

The team was quiet for a few seconds.

"What if we could bring him along?" asked Carter.

"I already told you it is a no." said Adrian.

"I don't mean physically. What if we could bring him along electronically? We have some very high tech satellite empowered earbuds – pretty much invisible to the naked eye, but very strong and clear. They can provide incoming and outgoing communication capability. What if we equip you with this and your brother could be listening in on the other end in case you are asked any odd questions in Italian?" asked Carter.

"Would that work?" asked Adrian.

"I don't like it." Said Leland. "Adrian, listen to what you are volunteering for. You're going over to an area, where they are killing Westerners, to poke around the business of the guys killing people."

"Lebanon is a safer area." Said Adrian.

"Not safe enough." Said Leland.

"I agree, Adrian." Said Natalie. "This worries me. I can't go either. What about Seri?"

Adrian thought.

"Mr. Stottlemeyer. Mrs. Monk. We will provide security for Mr. Monk when he is over there. I'll even make sure this security speaks Italian so Adrian will have double-cover. This is really a national security concern and you all have gotten us farther than we have ever been. You have my personal guarantee he will be okay." Said Carter.

"And if he's not?" asked Natalie.

"He will be." Said Carter. "How about it Monk?"

Adrian took a deep breath. "It's national security, Natalie."

"Let the army fight it then." She said.

"The army couldn't get where we've gotten." He said.

"What about your OCD?" said Natalie. "You know you're going to have to fly by yourself."

Adrian thought through the scenario.

"Natalie is right. I would probably fail." Said Adrian.

"Failure is not an option. If you drop out now, you run the risk of blowing your cover. They will start asking questions. Soon, your lives will likely be in danger if you stay. These are not gentlemen. It's all or nothing." Said Carter. "They won't care if they take out you, your wife, or that baby."

Adrian looked at Natalie, and she looked at him. Finally, she nodded yes.

"Alright. I'll go. But you have to provide me with security and have a contingency to get me out of there if there is trouble." Said Adrian.

"Will get right on it." Said Carter.


	8. Chapter 8

Agent Delgado handed Seri to Natalie and left for the evening as Adrian and Natalie entered the luxury apartment they were staying at. The moment the door shut, Adrian's inner panic began to pour out.

"What am I doing? What am I doing?! What am I doing?!" he said. "Natalie! Why didn't you stop me?"

"You were insistent!" said Natalie. "It was national security, you said."

"Yeah, but I didn't mean for you to listen to me! I...I can't do this! I'm going to have to get on a plane by myself, I'm going to a foreign land... without you...I'm going to have a psychological break...I know it! It's happened before!... HOW DARE HE!" Adrian yelled.

"What? ...Who? How dare who... what?" said Natalie, confused.

"Dr. Bell! This is happening because he quit. As long as he was there, everything stayed at bay. We just thought I was better. No, it was all just hiding, hiding for this moment... and building! to come on gangbusters and knock me out while I'm down...It's Neven Bell's fault!" he said clinching his fists.

Natalie didn't know whether to pity him or to laugh, so she decided to push personal feelings aside and be what she had always been for him - an anchor.

She set Seri down in a baby swing and then walked over to him and grasped both of his arms with her hands. Next, she pulled him in for a tight hug. When she released him, he started to continue the hysterical rant but she placed her hand over his mouth and held up one finger.

Walking to her laptop, she turned on the computer, opened a desk drawer and pulled out a transfer cable and hooked the computer up to his cell phone.

This was the kind of situation she had been preparing for for some time now, and she had just the remedy, she believed, to help Adrian simmer down.

Adrian watched as files loaded to the phone.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You'll find out." she answered.

When the files had downloaded she unplugged the phone and picked it up.

"I want you to think back 15 years." she said. "Think back to some of the darkest times you faced, when your fear and anxiety were overtaking you."

"I don't want to." he said.

"I know. You don't have to go too deep. But, I want you to think back to some of those times when you felt the most unstable. You would go into your room at night with nothing but these fears talking in your head. What was the one thing that brought you comfort and stability?" she asked.

Adrian thought and then looked up at Natalie with sad eyes. "Trudy. My...my Trudy pillow." he said. "Trudy is dead. I have you now."

She touched his arm and handed him the phone. "Consider this your Natalie pillow." she said.

"My Natalie Pillow?" he asked, confused. "It's a phone."

"Yes, it's a phone that now contains recordings of my voice. I have recorded about 80 hours worth of stories, segments of books and just small talk for you to listen to when you get in situations where the anxiety just gets to be too much. You can listen to those to take your mind off of whatever you are going through. I was hoping that it would perhaps help calm your nerves a bit. Maybe start listening on your plane trip. When you've gone through them, I can make some more."

He just stood there silently thinking about the enormity of the gift she just handed him. It wasn't the recordings themselves, which were precious. But, it was the love that she had shown towards him in making them.

"I don't deserve you." he said quietly.

"What does deserving someone have to do with anything?" she asked. "You were made for me, and I was made for you. That's what matters."

"Yeah. God pretty much knew what He was doing, didn't he?" Adrian said smiling.

"He sure did." she responded with a hug and a kiss.

* * *

Meanwhile, televisions throughout the state were broadcasting the nightly news which reported on the pretrial murder hearing of Josie Jones. The news chose to take the angle of reporting on a little of Josie's background, how she was out on her own at 14 and how she was a petty criminal prior to this occurrence. The press had captured Captain Charles Keith as he was leaving the courthouse and he made a statement to the effect that regardless how the pretrial went that day, Josie Jones was a murderer and that he anticipated the jury would come to that conclusion as well. Harrison Powell was shown leaving the courthouse and merely stated that he felt confident about their chances before a jury.

As the story played, a man in his late 30s sat in a leather chair drinking from a glass of beer and watched the anchorwoman explain the situation. When the story was over, he picked up his remote, laid down the beer and turned off the TV.

"Josie Jones." was all he said.

Laying down the remote, he went over to a closet and pulled out a shoe box from the top shelf. Rifling through the box, he came upon a letter. He pulled the letter out of the envelope and carefully unfolded it. It was yellowed by time. Reading through the letter, he then neatly folded it and placed it back in the envelope - placing the envelope and box carefully back in the closet. He stood silently and thought for a moment. Next, he pulled out a notebook from a bookshelf. Opening the notebook, there were pictures of himself as a younger man with a young blonde woman. Later, there were photographs of him with the same woman and a little boy. Across from it, there was a newspaper article where the headline read _San Diego woman and 5 year old son killed in hit and run accident_. He stopped and touched the photo of himself with the woman and the little boy and a tear fell from his eye. Shutting the book, he placed it back into the bookshelf, turned towards the coffee table and picked up his keys and jacket before quietly heading out the door.


	9. Chapter 9

Josie Jones sat by herself and ate breakfast in the common area of the penitentiary, trying to keep to herself and not attract too much attention. She had a little experience with prison life from her earlier theft conviction and was thankful when the judge had been lenient with her. Having kept her nose clean, this was the last place she thought she would end up. In fact, her life wasn't going anything like she had thought it would go at this point. In spite of the rocky start, she had always been able to hope for a better days ahead. Sitting behind bars, she was struggling to be able to dream for that life now. She missed Enrique. She missed Seri. She missed freedom. It all was so unfair.

As she stood up to return her tray to the stacks set out for the dishwashers, she was stopped by a guard.

"Miss Jones. You have a visitor." said the female guard with a distant demeanor.

"A visitor?" she thought. Perhaps it was Harrison Powell with more news. No, they would have said it if it was her attorney. Natalie and Adrian? Maybe they had brought Seri by to see her. It has been several days. Her heart cheered at the thought.

Entering the guarded visitation area, she looked around and did not see any familiar faces. Confused, she began to turn back when she heard someone call out her name.

"Josie? Josie Jones?" said a tall thin man about three tables away.

She turned around and looked, spotting the man but not recognizing him at all.

"Yeah? I'm Josie." She said.

He looked at her silently and smiled.

"You…you don't know me." He said. "But, I drove all night from Mesa Verde to come here and ask you a few questions."

"Alllllright." She said with narrowed eyes. She walked over to his table and pulled up a chair. "What do you want to know?"

"I want to know about you. I want to know how you got in here?" he said.

"Are you with the prosecution?" she asked.

"No. Not at all. I saw your story on the news last night. I saw where your case is somehow related to the murder of Enrique Valdez." He said.

"You know Enrique?" she asked.

"No. Only what I saw on television and read in the paper. Sounds like he was ambushed. Was it drugs?" Said the man.

"No. Enrique didn't do no drugs. I don't either. He was ambushed. He knew too much. But his killer is dead. Cops killed him and the guy who hired him is dead too." She said.

"Sid Angel?" he asked.

"Yes." She said with a disgusted look on her face.

"Angel is the guy you shot?" he asked.

"Yes." She replied.

"Did you kill him to avenge Enrique's death?" he asked. "News said you went to the place with a gun and that the cops have charged you with first degree murder." He said.

"No. I killed him because he was trying to kill me. I brought the gun for self-defense. He had Enrique killed. I witnessed the killing. Between Angel and the cops, I was a marked woman. When I got to the rental place, I overheard Angel tell that black-eyed goon that he wanted me dead. I was right to bring the weapon because they _were_ out to get me. Are you…are you sure you're not with the Prosecution?" she asked.

"I am sure. I am not with the prosecution." He said. "I am your friend. It's good to have friends, isn't it?" he asked.

"I suppose." She responded.

Switching subjects, he said "I see where you have that high-powered attorney Harrison Powell as your lawyer. That is good. He is good. However, that can't come cheap. How are you paying for it?"

She paused. "To tell you the truth, I don't know. He was hired by Adrian Monk. The Monks do okay, but they aren't rich. Maybe Powell is doing it Pro Bono."

"The detective, Adrian Monk?" he asked.

"Yeah. He and his wife Natalie are taking care of my little girl, Serendipity. I call her Seri." She said.

"You have a little girl?" he asked.

"Yes. She's just a baby." She said, opening a locket from around her neck that had Seri's photo in it. "She is beautiful and sweet as can be. "

He looked at the picture and smiled. "She looks like you." He said.

"Really? I think she looks like Enrique. Anyways, I would do anything for her."

"Is that why you stole that stuff last year?" he asked.

Josie frowned. "Yeah, how did you know about that?"

"It was on the news." he paused. "Listen Josie, I saw your story and I want to help you. I would like to pay your attorney fees and anything else that you might have coming up that you can't afford. I'm a single guy. My wife and son got killed, and I…would just like to help you."

"Why me? Who are you?" she asked.

"I am a friend of your family." He said.

"I don't have any family." She responded. "They are all dead."

"You don't have _any_ family?" he asked.

"Is there an echo? That's what I just said. I don't have any family. Who are you really, and why are you doing this?" she asked.

He did not answer.

Standing up, she said "Forget it, you're creeping me out. I don't know you and I don't know why you are asking me all these questions. I'm getting out of here." She turned and began to walk away. "GUARD, I'm done here!"

"Josie wait…Wait." He said.

Josie stopped and turned to him. "What?! I told you I'm done."

"I know. But...wait." he said.

"You gonna tell me who you are?" she asked.

He paused, nodded his head yes and then looked her in the eyes. Clearing his throat he said, "My name is Joey. Joey Garcia. I'm your father."


	10. Chapter 10

The roar of the jet engines and the pull of the gravitational force upon takeoff gripped Adrian's body and emotions with a tension that made him feel as if he was about to break, both physically and mentally. He didn't dare take anything to calm his nerves or make him sleep because knowing how he interacted with medication, he might break character, start speaking in his normal voice and blow his cover.

The Alliance had sent an Italian-American agent, Luca Rossi, to be his 'assistant' on the trip and they had concocted a story that gave Nico the same OCD characteristics that Adrian had, so that when his OCD inevitably kicked in there would be no questions. Luca was to go with him everywhere and would serve as a bodyguard as well. It was made very clear to Campen that wherever Nico went, Luca went. No exceptions.

As a backup, they also equipped Adrian with the special discrete listening device that he could switch on and page Ambrose with. This device would get him in touch with Adrian immediately. The device was two way, so Ambrose would be able to listen in on the conversation and communicate with Adrian in a way that others would not hear.

Once they had reached cruising altitude, Adrian told Luca to get his cellphone and Bluetooth headset out of his briefcase. With Natalie's gift in hand, Adrian plugged in the headset and began to soak in the sound of Natalie's voice as she read to him some of the short stories from _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_, a book that Jack Monk read to Adrian and Ambrose when they were growing up. She had been right. The sound of her voice was an elixir better than any tranquilizer or anti-anxiety medication that Dr. Bell could have prescribed. He listened to her the entire 15 hours of the flight, opting to put off sleep until he reached the hotel, which was late evening in Beirut.

The Alliance had gone all-out in sustaining Adrian's cover and put him and Luca up at Beirut's Lancaster Eden Bay in the two bedroom Diplomatic suite. Campen stayed in the same hotel, but in one of their regular rooms.

When the group arrived, the Lebanese people could not have been more friendly. From the limo driver to the bellhop who delivered their luggage to their suite, they made Adrian and Luca feel as if they were kings. Although there were scars on many of the buildings from the conflict of years past, Beirut was nothing like the stereotype that the typical Westerner would imagine. In terms of cities, they felt just about as safe on its streets as they would in any other foreign land.

The moment Adrian arrived in his room, he sent a short text to Natalie. She had been waiting to hear from him and was beginning to get a little nervous, so the short text did much to calm her nerves. "Arrived safely. Holmes is a genius. Room is spectacular. Going to get some zzzzs and will talk more when I get up. Love you, Nico."

* * *

"I could get used to this." Said Luca as they entered their opulent suite complete with a living room, kitchenette, two bedrooms, a jacuzzi, and a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean. Adrian was just happy that it was pristine clean and that it was not on the very top floor. As he and Luca went their separate ways, he pulled out his brown pajamas from his suitcase and walked into the shiny marble bathroom. The bathroom was complete with a luxurious Turkish cotton bathrobe and lush thick towels which were embossed with the Lancaster logo, a stylized version of the red rose of the House of Lancaster from Medieval England. The shower had a square rainfall showerhead, and the entire room gave the look and feel of a spa.

After Adrian used the shower to remove the travel grime from himself, he got dressed for bed, brushed his teeth, walked out into the bedroom, carefully removed and folded the bedding and replaced it with his own freshly wrapped new bedding from back home. Even in a five-star hotel, he couldn't get passed the idea of sleeping in a hotel bed where other's had been, so it was one characteristic of his OCD that he would never relinquish. At long last, he settled into bed and set the alarm so that he would be sure to be up by 6:00 AM, Beirut time.

* * *

It had been three days since Josie had been stunned by meeting her father for the first time. They hadn't talked since he revealed the startling news and she had sent him away, needing time to process what had happened. Finally, she had composed herself enough that she got up the courage to call him on his home phone in Mesa Verde. He answered right away.

"Hello." He said.

"Joey. It's me. Josie." she said with a trembling voice.

"Josie! I'm…I'm so glad you called." He said.

"Yeah. Well, I was wondering. Would you come back over here and talk to me some more? You had questions to ask me. I have a whole lot to ask you." She responded.

"I'm sure you do." He said. "I have some business to attend to later today, but I can drive on over there after that and maybe see you in the morning."

"Okay." She said. "I have one question now. You said that you had a little boy. That would have been my little brother. Do I have any more siblings?" she asked.

"No. He was my only child…aside from you. Josie, I have a lot to tell you. I have a feeling, knowing your mother…and I'm sorry if being that blunt offends you, but that was just my experience with her…you're probably believing some things that weren't true. I'm glad, if nothing else, that we can clear the air here." Joey said.

Josie was quiet for a second. "I would like that. And you don't offend me regarding Mom. I know who she was. I always wanted mom's love and never got it. That's one thing that I want to make sure that Seri never lacks."

"Alright then, I will call the facility and let them know when I get there. You take care." He said.

"Alright. You too." She said, hanging up the phone and turning to the guard who walked her back to her room.

* * *

Once in his room, Doug Campen changed out of his traveling clothes and turned on the television set. In the glare of the screen, he picked up his cell phone and called back to the states.

"Campen here." He said when the person answered.

"You have arrived in one piece?" asked Campen's partner on the other end of the line.

"Yeah. We've checked into the hotel. Gentili brought an assistant. Some guy named Luca Rossi. Gentili's wife couldn't make it."

"What do we know about Rossi?" the partner asked.

"Next to nothing. Nico said he won't travel anywhere without him. I think he is his bodyguard or something. Seemed professional enough." Campen said.

"I don't care about his professionalism. I don't like having new players entered into this deal. It's bad enough that you volunteered to take Gentili to our source. Now, we have some man that neither of us know joining along." The partner responded.

"Hey, I get it. But would you rather me blow a few million dollars because we don't have a full ancestral trace on some guy our customer wants to bring along? I'm a businessman." Doug responded.

"Don't get terse with me Dougie. If it werent' for me, you'd be a businessman in jail. Don't forget that. And if you get any sort of weird vibe, don't hesitate to cut it all off. You know what to do. Gentili may be a billionaire, but a few million dollars isn't worth blowing a multi-hundreds of million dollars enterprise. I don't care how he wants to decorate his house." The partner answered.

"Got it. Well, I'm about to hit the hay. We should meet up with Jaheem tomorrow. I'll let you know how things go." Doug said.

"Fine. Good luck, and make the sale - and don't get caught." said the partner on the other line as they hung up.


	11. Chapter 11

Natalie had just put Seri to bed and was about to call it an early evening herself. She hadn't let on before Adrian left, but she had been having headaches and some stomach cramps ever since the doctor changed her medication. She had visited the endocrinologist late that afternoon, and had been told that the side effects were somewhat common. The doctor took some additional bloodwork to see where her thyroid levels were and she was given medication for the headaches and cramping as well. Because one of the medicines said that it could make her loopy, she avoided taking the medication while Seri was up, but now with the baby in bed, she sat down on the couch and took the pill and turned the TV on to see what was on Channel 10. She certainly could have checked other channels, but Channel 10 was a comfort to her.

She was sound asleep when her cell phone rang. She fumbled around finally picked it up. It was Adrian's number. Answering the phone, she didn't sound like herself.

"Helllllo" she said drowsily.

"Hi beautiful." Adrian said as he sat in a chair just inside the room looking out at beautiful morning sky overlooking the Mediterranean.

"Whooooo izz this?" she said.

"Who is this? What do you mean? This is your husband." Said Adrian. "Who else would be calling you beautiful?"  
"Ahhhhh…Adrian! Hi honeyyyy." She said. "Did you get that stain out of the toast?"

Adrian pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it, then he placed it back to his ear.

"Did I what? Natalie, are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm ffffine. Just put the toothpaste to bed, and wasss takin' a little nap myself." She said with her eyes shut.

"Put the toothpaste? You don't sound fine. Are you okay?" he asked.

"Doctor whatsaface gave me a little something to help with some side effects and I am feeeeling no pain!" she said in a silly manner followed by a giggle.

"The doctor gave you medicine? What for?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter." She slurred. "Hey? Did you see about the mayor?" she asked.

"The mayor? No. I haven't turned on any news in the past twenty-four hours. What about him?" he asked.

"Someone tried to run him over and mash him flat." She said giggling.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "Someone tried to kill the mayor?"

"And mash him flat!" she said. "Honneeyy I hate to do this, but I'm sleepy."

"Natalie, hang on a minute. You sound like you've had some sort of adverse reaction to this medicine." He said.

"No adverbs." She said giggling.

"Not adverbs. Adverse. Negative. I'm going to call TK Stottlemeyer and have her come stay with you tonight." He said.

"TK. I love TK. She's nice. Did you know that Leland and her got married?" she asked.

"Yes dear. We were in their wedding. You just rest. I'll have TK come over and when she gets there let her in, okay? I love you." He said.

"Love you too, you handsome hunk of a man." She said as they hung up.

* * *

Adrian immediately called the Stottlemeyer residence and informed Leland and TK about Natalie's condition. They agreed that TK would go spend the night at the luxury condo, and Leland let TK know that there was a case they were working on and that Natalie was undercover and that it was sensitive. He told her nothing about The Alliance, so she assumed it was with the SFPD. The less she knew the better, he thought.

Adrian also asked about the mayor, and they indicated that it was true. Someone had tried to run the mayor over in a car earlier that day and that the Police Commissioner had done a report from his office for CNN detailing the incident.

As he ate breakfast in his room, he watched CNN International in hopes that they would carry the story but had to leave when Luca came into the room and said that Campen was ready to go. He would have to catch the story later. Right now, he had to attend to the business at hand.

He grabbed the Cargo vest he had brought with him and placed his cell phone in its pockets along with the remote to turn the listening device, which he now had hiding inconspicuously in his ear. In the opposite pocket, he placed a palm-sized hand-cranked emergency radio/generator in case they got someplace and needed electricity for any reason. Lastly, he took the charger to his phone just to be safe.

* * *

They met Campen in the lobby and then the trio drove about an hour east to the third largest city in Lebanon, Zahle, the "City of Wine and Poetry." And stopped at an unassuming bookstore deep within the orange tiled roofs of the city.

As they entered the shop, they were greeted by a man somewhere in his 60s.

"Mr. Campen! It has been too long!" said the gentleman, coming forward and giving Doug a hug.

"Ahmad! How in the world are you? How has Raima recovered from her surgery?" he asked.

"Oh, my friend, she is progressing well. Thank you so much for asking! Please, introduce me to your friends." He said.

"Yes, this young man here is named Luca Rossi, he is the assistant of my good friend you see standing here, Nico Gentili. Nico has flown from the United States to do a little shopping here in Zahle. Is Jaheem here?" he asked.

"Certainly. He has been awaiting your arrival. He is in the downstairs storage room. Please, make yourself at home." Said Ahmad, pointing the way towards a basement door.

* * *

TK arrived at the condo in the early morning hours. Natalie was still a little loopy but not as bad as before. TK picked up the bottle and checked the dosage. She then asked Natalie how much she had taken which highlighted the problem.

"Natalie, it says take half a pill. In your fatigue you took an entire pill." She said.

TK called the hospital and asked them about the dosage and they said there should be no danger in the double-dose, but to watch her. So, TK grabbed a blanket and pillow and slept in a chair next to the couch that Natalie was sleeping in that night.

* * *

Jaheem Saliba stood up as Campen, Adrian, and Luca entered the room.

"Campen! My friend!" he said, slapping Doug on the arm! "I've been waiting for you. And this must be Mr. Gentili and…?"

"Luca Rossi. Mr. Gentili's assistant." Luca said, announcing himself.

Jaheem looked at Doug nervously, but Doug nodded and told him it was okay.

"I'm uh, pleased to meet you, Mr...?" 'Nico' said with his Italian accent.

"Saliba. My name is Jaheem Saliba." Jaheem said.

"Jaheem and I have been business associates for what? Three years now?" Doug interjected.

"Actually, I think it is four years now. We met at that expo in San Francisco." He said pointing to some pictures on the far wall.

"That's right! Jaheem impressed me back then with the quality of items that he could come up with then. I know you will be just as impressed." Said Campen.

"I certainly hope so. Having flown all of the way around the world, I'm ready to see some impressive items." Nico responded.

"Great! Well, you are standing in my warehouse. Of course, these are some of the smaller items we have. The larger items are kept offsite. I understand from Doug that it is the large items you are looking for? No?" said Jaheem.

"Yes! I want to turn my new home into a Museum-like showcase. The entire first floor I would like to be dedicated to antiquities, particularly from ancient Babylon and the Levant." Nico responded.

"I think you will be quite pleased by what you see then. We should have exactly what you want." Said Jaheem. "Please, let's go outside to my truck and take a little trip."

Jaheem drove Adrian, Luca and Doug about 15 minutes West of his shop to a small area outside of Kamel. There, they visited a storage building the size of an average American warehouse, absolutely filled with columns and statues from throughout the Middle East ranging from the early Biblical area into the Roman Empire. Several of the items, Adrian recognized from The Alliance's catalog of stolen merchandise. This was excellent news! He took careful mental notes of everything he had seen. Finally, he had the idea of getting things down in writing so he switched on the listening device hoping that Ambrose would pick up and begin taking notes of what he was seeing.

Ambrose and Heather were still sleeping when the pager went off. Ambrose, being a light sleeper, was startled out of bed and ran and put the device in his ear.

"I'm here!" he said in Adrian's ear.

"Goooood! This is very gooood! Mr. Saliba! You were not lying when you said that you had some really beautiful artifacts here! My Mattie will be very very pleased. Tell, me Jaheem, how on earth were you able to come upon these items?" he said in a thick Italian accent.

As Jaheem spoke, Ambrose picked up on what Adrian wanted him to do and began to take notes. The entire operation in that area was detailed - the various people they met with, which organizations they were a part of, the dangers involved in some of the operations due to working with some particularly bad actors.

"We would not want to take you up North." Said Jaheem.

"Why is that?" asked Nico.

"Bad people are just over the border in Syria. They are in the middle of a Civil war and some particularly bad terrorist organizations have bounties out for Westerners. I won't even go there. I generally reach my contacts up North via the mail system when it runs there. Can take several days." Said Jaheem.

"Why bother with them at all?" asked Nico.

"The artifacts, of course. That is how we got the artifacts out of Mosul and Nimrud, and some of the latest ones from Syria. It's the same group doing it all." Jaheem responded.

"Fascinating." Said Nico.

After a few hours of looking at Jaheem's wares, Adrian whispered "Thanks. Later." And turned off the listening device. Ambrose couldn't wait to call Leland to let him know that he had heard from him, but since it was only 5AM, he figured he would wait until Leland got into the office a little after 7AM.

* * *

Back at Natalie's place, Natalie had gotten up early and had a little bit of a medication hangover. TK took care of Natalie and Seri, making sure that Natalie was stable and on her feet before she left at around 7:30 AM. As she exited the building, she ran into Leland's right hand man from the commissioner's office, Mike Bradford.

"Hey, Mrs. Stottlemeyer! What brings you into this neck of the woods?" he asked.

"Oh, I was just here helping Natalie Monk while Adrian is in the Middle East. She got sick last night and…" TK said.

"Monk? Doesn't he live over near Broadway?" he asked.

TK suddenly realized she may have said more than she should have. "Yes. But, Natalie was just visiting this area…look, I need to get home to do something. We'll talk later." She said as she hurried towards her car. She tried calling Leland to give him the heads up, but he was not at his desk.

* * *

Back in Lebanon, the party had made its way back to Jaheem's shop back in Zahle. Jaheem and Nico were busy discussing the merchandise that Nico was interested in and Nico was explaining to Jaheem his terms of payment. After they came to an agreement, Jaheem went to a kitchen area and brought his guests a nice pot of Turkish Tea as a sign of hospitality. While they drank the tea, he turned on the television to Al Jazeera.

"Oh, can you turn the TV to CNN by any chance?" asked Nico, hoping to get news about the mayor.

About ten minutes into the broadcast, the report from the Commissioner's office came on. Adrian listened intently as Commissioner Joe Carlisle explained precisely what had happened. As he explained, he picked up a notepad where he had drawn a map of where City Hall was and the streets that surrounded it. Using his pen to show where the Mayor had crossed the street, he illustrated where the automobile had come from and exactly where it had almost hit the Mayor. As he was explaining, Adrian's blood ran cold.

"Oh my word!" Adrian whispered, as Campen and Jaheem talked in the next room.

"What is it?" asked Luca.

Adrian pointed at the screen. "The notepad. Look at it! What do you see?"

Luca looked at the screen and tried to discern what Adrian was seeing.

"What? A roughly drawn map of the streets of San Francisco?" he asked.

"No. The logo. Look at the logo on the stationary." Adrian responded, as he flipped on the "Ambrose" switch inside his pocket. Ambrose immediately listened in.

Luca tried to focus. "Wait, is that? Is that a rose?"

"Yes. The rose on the Commissioner's notepad is the same rose shaped logo from our hotel here in Beirut." Adrian said.

"What? What does this mean?" asked Luca.

"It means…it means Commissioner Carlisle… he's the guy." Adrian whispered to Luca's astonishment.

* * *

Leland sat in Carlisle's office and listened as Carlisle handed out orders regarding next steps in the Mayor's case. As he was talking, Bradford came in the room and pulled up a chair.

"Mr. Bradford, I trust whatever delayed you this morning was more important than trying to figure out who tried to kill the Mayor?" said Carlisle.

"Sorry sir, I didn't mean to be late. Traffic was bad and I had a hard time getting here." Bradford replied.

"Don't let it happen again." Said Carlisle.

"I won't sir." Said Bradford.

As Carlisle finished up, Bradford turned to Leland. "Hey Leland, I saw TK at my condominium complex this morning."

Leland froze for a second. TK had been seen?

"She said she was just leaving from taking care of Natalie Monk since Adrian is in the Middle East." Bradford said.

Leland felt all of the blood run from his face and he closed his eyes.

"Monk is in the Middle East?" said Carlisle. "He's not allowed to do that, he has standing charges against him."

"Sir… I can explain…" said Leland.

"You can explain? Are you a part of this?" asked Carlisle.

"Sir…" said Leland.

"Where? Where is he?" asked Carlisle. "Oh, forget it! I have to call the International Police and let them know we have a fugitive at large. I'll get back to you later."

Leland left the Commissioner's office and slammed some papers down on his desk. He had to call The Officers at the Alliance. Monk's cover was compromised.

* * *

Carlisle picked up the phone and instead of calling the International Police, he called Campen.

"Yeah." Said Campen as he answered the phone.

"Campen, this is Carlisle. I'm sending you a picture from the internet of a guy from San Francisco, you may have heard of him. His name is Adrian Monk. I need you to look right away and let me know if he looks familiar."

"Alright." Said Campen.

30 seconds after Carlisle sent the photo, Campen came on the line.

"Well, son of a…It's Gentili, without a beard!" he said.

Carlisle slammed his fist on the desk, threw a pen across the room and cursed.

"You know what you have to do." Said Carlisle. "They can't convict if they do not have evidence."

"You've got it. I'll take care of it." Said Campen as he hung up the phone and gave a sinister glance towards Adrian.

* * *

As Leland dialed the phone, he noticed a text come into his cell phone. Before he could check it, Jonathan Carter answered the landline.

"Carter speaking."

"Yeah, Carter, this is Stottlemeyer. We have a situation here."

"What's that?" asked Carter.

"Monk's cover, it has been compromised." He said, as the phone buzzed again.

"Compromised? How?" Carter asked.

As they spoke, Leland picked up his cell phone and saw two messages from Ambrose. They were short, but they were not sweet.

The first read

_Mayday! Mayday! Nico in trouble!_

The second one caused Leland to nearly lose his breakfast.

_I repeat, Mayday! Heard from A.M. - Carlisle is the guy! Repeat! Carlisle is the guy!_

"Oh, dear heavens!" Leland said as the toothpick dropped from his mouth.


	12. Chapter 12

Josie Jones walked awkwardly into the visitation room as Joey stood resolutely watching her walk to the table.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey." He replied, reaching out and handing her a brown paper bag. "I brought you some cookies."

Josie's normally tough demeanor softened as she took the bag and looked inside. "Chocolate chip. Those are my favorite. How did you know?"

"They're my favorite too; and, they were your mother's favorite when I knew her, so I took a guess." He replied.

Mentioning her mother resurrected a painful time in her life and also highlighted the confusion that she felt right now. She had never known this man, but here he was at a time where she was an outcast, wanting to be a part of her life. Why? She took a cookie from the bag and played with it in her hands, and then put it back.

"Joey…" she started.

"You said you had questions for me?" he interrupted.

She paused. "Many. I'm not sure where to begin."

"Just launch into them. It's okay if it is awkward. I will answer anything you ask." He said.

"Okay." She said looking at a little chocolate she had on her fingertip. "Why? Why did you abandon me? Why did you abandon my mother when she told you about me?" she asked.

"I didn't." he responded. "I never knew about you until you were about ten years old."

"What?" she asked.

"Your mother and I dated in high school, and then a little into our early twenties. I loved her. Would have given her the moon. She never felt the same about me. I'm not sure she was capable." He said. "I was going to go to college and she did not want me to go. I delayed it for a long time just to make her happy. We moved in together. I thought we would get married, but she was just toying with me. I don't really know what she wanted other than that I would work and provide for our home and she would take and give nothing in return. Finally, I woke up to what she was really about."

"How? How did you know?" Josie asked.

"I had been saving up some money. The car that we had was old, leaked oil bad, bad brakes, bad tires…really pretty bad all around. I was saving up some money for a down payment so that we could drive something nicer and safe. Not anything new. Couldn't afford that. But safer. I knew I had accumulated around $1000.00 in a metal box I kept under the bed. I came home one day to retrieve the money so I could go look for some wheels, and found out that the money was gone. She had been using it to supply a secret drug habit that I didn't know she had. When I found out what she had done, I confronted her about it. She looked at me and, with the coldest eyes I think I've ever seen, said it was my duty to give her whatever she wanted and that I should just get out because there were dozens of guys she could hook up that would be happy to give her things."

"That sounds like her. What did you do?" she asked.

"I left. I guess I knew for a while that there was nothing there, but her callous nature just snapped me out of it. I was heartbroken, but I still had enough self-respect to get out of there. So, I left, and I joined the army." He said.

"Did you go to Kansas?" she asked.

"I spent a little time at Ft. Riley, but then they deployed me to Iraq. I spent eight years there. Was honorably discharged. Met my wife while I was in the army. We got married shortly after I was discharged.

She was a wonderful lady. Strong. Smart. Beautiful. We had a good marriage.

I moved back to California and started a produce shipping business out of Mesa Verde."

"And finding out about me?" Josie inquired.

"One day, when I was in the city meeting with some suppliers, I ran into your mother on the streets. Her looks kinda shocked me. She looked a lot older than her years and was very hard looking. When she saw me, she was as defiant and proud as ever though. She mocked me and then cursed me for leaving. About that point, you walked up to her and handed her some money. She told you to go get in the car.

After you left, I asked her who you were, and she told me that you were the child I abandoned. I was stunned. She had never said a thing. Before I could ask any questions, she told me that I had better not get any ideas because you had a stepfather, who was really more like a father, and that he and his boys would not take kindly if I messed in your lives. I hadn't been married very long myself at that point, so I didn't want to rock the boat there, and I lied to myself trying to convince myself that she was telling me the truth. I guess I thought that maybe you were having a good life and I didn't want to disrupt it by suddenly interjecting myself into it. I should have known." He said.

Josie sat there for a second. "There was no stepfather. There were a lot of guys. Not at first. She didn't date anyone until I was about five. But then, as she got more and more on drugs and alcohol there were a lot of guys. A few tried to come after me, but I'll have to say she did protect me from them. I don't know if it was because she loved me in her own weird way, or because she was jealous, but they never touched me."

"Was your life with her rough?" Joey asked.

"Yeah. I saw things as a kid that no kid needs to see. She would take me to bars and I'd end up having to walk her home, or we would stay on the streets that night while she slept off a drunk. I stole some things when I was younger just to get some food for us. From about age 12, I pretty much ran the streets and did whatever I could to survive. Some guys tried to recruit me for their gang, but I stayed away from that stuff." She responded.

"You were smart." He said.

"Yeah. I was. I didn't think so. But, when I met Enrique and had a normal love relationship for the first time, I found out. I hated myself before that because I had never been taught I was worth loving. Enrique taught me that." she said.

"Enrique sounds like he was a good young man." Joey responded.

"He was. He was kind." she replied. "We were…we planned on getting married when Seri was a little older. I wanted her to be my flower girl. Dumb, I know."

"No, it's not dumb." Joey said. "She's your little girl. That's a special day."

"What happened with your wife and kid?" Josie asked.

"They had driven into Los Angeles to go visit her family. I had to work. On the way back to Mesa Verde, some drunk crossed the center line and took my heart away. They were both dead upon impact." He replied.

"I'm sorry." she said. "It sucks losing someone you are close to." she looked down and fidgeted nervously with her fingers on top of the table.

"Yes. It does." He replied, reaching forward his hand and covering her hands with his.

She looked up at him as her eyes filled with water. "So, we pretty much got robbed."

"Yes. Josie. We did." He said. "But, there is nothing to say we can't start now."

Josie smiled as a tear ran down her face. "You're right. There's nothing to say we can't."

* * *

Leland Stottlemeyer informed Jonathan Carter about the ominous text and Carter immediately shifted into alarm mode.

"I will activate our operatives in Beirut. Do we have any idea where he is now?" Carter asked.

"I don't know. Ambrose is the one who heard from him." Said Leland.

"Let me conference him in." said Carter.

A few moments passed and Ambrose picked up the phone.

"Ambrose…Monk." He answered.

"Ambrose, this is Jonathan Carter. I'm on the line with Leland Stottlemeyer. We understand you heard from Adrian."

"Yes. He has that listening device turned on. I can hear everything." Ambrose responded.

"He still has it on?" asked Carter.

"Yeah. He's been talking to Rossi,and Campen just walked out to him." He replied.

"Any Idea where they are?" Carter asked.

"They are at some bookstore in Zahle. Guy who works there is named Jaheem Saliba. He's the middle man who gets the stuff from the looters. Wait…" Ambrose said. "...Campen has suggested that they go make another run before it gets dark."

Leland said, "Don't go, Monk."

"Adrian is telling them that he is really too tired to go and that he and Luca need to return to the hotel." Ambrose said.

"Great!" said Carter. "Get the heck out of there, Monk!"

"Campen is responding…oh no!" said Ambrose.

"What? What is he saying?" asked Stottlemeyer.

"Oh…this is not good…Campen just called him 'Adrian Monk.' He ordered him and Luca out to the truck and said they were going to take a ride. Leland! You've got to do something!" said Ambrose, getting very upset.

"Ambrose, buddy. Settle down. We're going to do everything we can." Said Leland.

Carter interjected. "I need to hang up and call my resources in Beirut. They may have some people in Zahle too. It's a big city. I'll be in touch. Keep listening Ambrose. As long as you can. Any information you can pick up, text it to Leland."

"Will do." Said Ambrose nervously. "Get my baby brother out of there!"

* * *

Adrian and Luca were told to put their hands out in front of them as Jaheem duct taped their wrists together. He reached around Luca's waist and removed a firearm from a holster he had tucked by his side. Then he pointed the gun at the two men and had them climb into the back of an SUV.

He got into the driver's seat and Campen slid into the passenger's seat as the car took off and began heading North.

"Where are you taking us?" Adrian asked in his normal voice.

Jaheem and Campen were silent.

"You know the jig is already up." said Luca. "We're on to you."

"You've got no evidence of anything." said Campen.

"We know that Carlisle's the guy." said Adrian.

This revelation made Campen very quiet. He hadn't expected that they knew this much. He had to think.

"Listen, if you're willing to testify against Carlisle, it may go easier on you. You add a double-homicide to your crimes though and there is no hope." Adrian said.

"Shut up!" said Campen angrily. He pointed a gun at Adrian he ordered him to sit back in his seat.

Everything was quiet for the next forty minutes. Finally, Adrian spoke up. "There's the sign to Baalbek. Is that where you are taking us?"

Ambrose took note and texted Leland who informed Carter. Carter's operatives in Lebanon were already heading in Adrian's general direction but were at least an hour behind him, and nightfall was approaching.

"It would be fitting if you just sorta dropped us off at the ruins. We came here for ruins, you could sorta maybe drop us off there…" said Adrian.

"Shut up!" ordered Campen.

After a few moments of silence, Jaheem spoke up.

"There is no money in just dropping you off. Nor is there money in killing you." he said.

"What are you going to do with us?" asked Luca.

"You'll fetch a pretty price for us in Qaa." said Jaheem. "Good money for Westerners there."

"So, we're heading to Qaa?" asked Adrian.

"No." said Jaheem. "We can't be seen in the city. We are meeting someone in the mountains near Qaa."

"Jaheem, stop talking." Said Campen.

"What's the big deal?" asked Jaheem. "They aren't going to be our problem for long."

"You don't get it." Said Campen. "They know. The States probably know. We're done."

"Yeah, but with the money we get…" said Jaheem.

"You really think a few hundred thousand dollars will be able to help us disappear?" said Campen.

"Around here, yes." said Jaheem. "Don't worry, Doug. We had this planned as our contingency. It will be okay."

* * *

Ambrose sent the latest information to Carter, who decided that ground forces weren't going to be enough. He chartered a helicopter out of Beirut and pointed it in the general direction of Qaa. Since they were on a main road, they should able to be spotted easily, so long as the helicopter arrived before night. Unfortunately, night was coming quickly. The further they drove, the more interference Ambrose was getting in the signal. Finally, all he heard was silence.

"Adrian! Adrian! Say something so I know you can hear me! Adrian!" Ambrose said in a panic, as Heather wrapped her arms around him. He bowed his head and began to weep for fear.

As the sun began to set in the West, Jaheem suddenly made a right hand turn, just outside of Ras Baalbek, about 5 miles south of Qaa. They were headed towards the Mountains. As they drove, the road became rougher and rougher. By now night was upon them. Anxiety whelmed up within Adrian and even Luca was beginning to sweat.

* * *

Back home, Leland felt helpless, wracking his brain and kicking himself for not making it clearer to TK how truly sensitive things were, he then thought of a worse thought. Natalie. What was he going to tell Natalie?

He stood up from his desk and walked past Carlisle's office to head to the condos. Carlisle was not there, and it was just as well. If Leland had seen him, at this point, he might have done something that would have wound up landing himself in prison.

* * *

As the SUV bounced and jostled against a dirt road, the four men sat in silence, climbing the mountain in the dark. Finally, Campen started talking - no taunting - Adrian and Luca with tales of horror about what awaited them.

"You know, the guys we're giving you to are the kind of guys you see on TV who publicly execute their prey." He said. "At least if I go down, I'll get to go down knowing that this was how you died."

"You're sick!" said Luca. "You won't get away with this."

Doug laughed. "Too bad you won't live long enough to see if that's right."

Adrian's fear factor began to escalate to the point that he began to feel himself wanting to disassociate. He had to stay lucid. How he wished he could reach the phone in his pocket.

As they reached the top of an incline and began to go back down to the other side, Luca got an idea. His hands ached due to the tightness of the duct tape, but he about kicked himself that he hadn't thought of it before. They had tied his and Adrian's hands in front. Adrian and Luca were both behind their kidnappers. He elbowed Adrian and motioned to him that they should reach over the seat in unison and use the tape to strangle their captors. If nothing else, maybe they could cause enough of a stir that they could break away from the car. Death awaited them in any other case, so it was worth a shot.

* * *

Back at the condo, Natalie answered the door and about collapsed when she saw Leland's face. He was pale and more somber than she had ever seen him.

"Adrian! Is Adrian okay?" she asked.

Leland bit his lower lip and asked, "Can I come in?"

With that, she started to become hysterical. "Oh no! Something's happened? What?! Is he okay?" she said pacing.

"He's alive." Leland said. "For now."

For the next half hour he struggled to keep Natalie calm as he explained the danger that Adrian was in and how they were trying to address it. He wanted to give her hope, but he was having a horrible time holding out hope himself. This was bad. It was really bad.

* * *

On the count of three, Luca and Adrian reached over the back of the seats and used their duct taped wrists to catch Jaheem and Campen by surprise.

It worked, a little too well.

Jaheem immediately lost control of the car and began to swerve on the mountain road.

Campen tried to reach for his gun but it fell into the floorboard.

Finally, Jaheem's left hand directed the steering wheel straight over a fifty-foot embankment. The car rolled, slamming Adrian and Luca into the roof and back down into the car - finally ejecting them both from the vehicle altogether.

As the car continued to roll, it hit large rocky spot and burst into flames.

Finally, the car exploded into a huge fireball that lit up the terrain all around them.

Adrian had witnessed it as it occurred, but his body hurt too much to even try to move at that point in time, so he just watched the fiery display before finally losing consciousness.


	13. Chapter 13

Stottlemeyer, Carter, and Natalie all sat in Sallinger's office waiting for word back from Lebanon. TK was back at Monk's real apartment with Seri and was nearly inconsolable at the news of what her mistake had perhaps cost the team. She could not forgive herself if something happened to Adrian as a result of the slip of her tongue, but she was assured by Leland that it would be okay and told that they needed her strength right now to get through the next several hours.

Finally, a call came in from the Beirut ground team. There was no sign of Adrian and Luca anywhere. They would get a room in Qaa and circle back in the morning.

Natalie's eyes were swollen from crying and she rocked back and forth with a furrowed brow, so worried about her husband. She should have talked him out of the entire trip, and things would have been okay. At least that is what she told herself. She began to sink into a dark place but then pulled herself back out of it, believing that if Adrian were dead she would know it. The fact that she could feel him needing her must mean he was alive, somewhere, in the dark. Quietly, she began to pray.

After several minutes, Leland slammed his fist on the desk and said he'd had enough.

"I'm not just going to sit here while your guys in Lebanon wait for a corpse to appear. If Monk is alive, we're going to find him. And, I want to be a part of that party." Leland said.

"But we need you back here to watch Carlisle." Said Carter.

"Carlisle's probably half-way to Canada right now. We can deal with him later. Listen, Carter, you promised this young lady that my friend was going to be okay. You owe it to her and to me to let me fly over there and find him and bring him home safely." Leland responded.

"I want to go too." Said Natalie.

"Natalie, if you go, you're going to put yourself in danger." Said Leland.

"I don't care. Adrian needs me. I feel it. I know he is alive. I have to find him." Said Natalie.

"Leland, you're going to stand out like a sore thumb over there. At least with Monk, he looks somewhat Lebanese. Even though we made him an Italian, he blends in well. But with your lighter hair and European looks…" said Carter.

"I don't care. I'm going." Said Leland.

"Then we will provide you with armed guards, and our Lebanese contingent at your disposal." Said Sallinger.

"Fine." Said Leland. "I'll call TK and tell her what's going on."

Sallinger replied, "It's 1:00 PM now. Meet us on the Tarmac at San Francisco International at 2:30 PM. We'll fly you by private jet so as to not attract any further attention. Meanwhile, Carter, let's get our forces busy here trying to find Carlisle."

"But, we can't arrest him without evidence." Said Carter.

"I know. We need to keep an eye on where he's at though. I'll call up his phone records and see if he's been talking to anyone interesting. Monk is never wrong about these things, so if he's our San Francisco king pin, then we can't let him slip through our hands." Sallinger replied.

"Got it. We'll track him down." Said Carter as the team got busy with their assignments.

* * *

Carlisle sat nervously in the dark in a living room just outside of the city limits. Across from him was a small man from India who listened carefully while sipping on some Masala Chai.

"Samir, you have to get me out of here. They are on to me. I did everything you asked." Said Carlisle.

"_I have to_?" said Samir. "Oh, dear Mr. Carlisle, I thought more highly of you than this. You knew when you took over the operations on this side of your country that there was risk. With your position and your skills, I assumed that you would ensure that stupid little mistakes like this would never happen."

"It's Monk. I didn't count on him being brought into it. I tried to keep him out of it." He responded.

"So, what happened?" asked Samir.

"I, I don't know. He seems to be working with someone. Samir, I'm afraid they know all about us." He replied.

"They don't know about me. And they aren't going to know about your connection to me either. I'm leaving the United States tonight." Samir said.

"You have to take me with you!" said Carlisle.

"Now why on earth would I do that?" said Samir. "No, Joe. You did this. You have to face it. And don't get any ideas of pulling me in on it. Prison will seem like a walk in the park for you if you cross me. Got it?"

Carlisle looked down and shook his head yes.

* * *

Leland and Natalie boarded the jet at San Francisco International at the appointed time. Both were a bundle of nerves, but took solace in their friendship and mutual love for the unique man who had changed all of their lives for the better. They talked a lot during the 15 hour flight, about Adrian, about his quirks, about how he and Natalie got together and about Leland's time with him on the force both before and after Trudy. Finally, they both fell asleep and didn't wake up until the wheels hit the tarmac in Beirut at 5:30 PM Beirut time. Getting off the plane, they immediately went to meet with the Beirut team who informed them that they had spent the entire day looking for signs of Monk but to no avail. They would try again in the morning.

When the morning arrived they received a call from the group in Qaa saying that an Arab shopkeeper in Qaa had told one of the group's members that there had been a car accident in the area two nights ago. They had pointed to an area in between Qaa and Ras Baalbek and were heading there now. Leland and Natalie followed the Beirut team's leader, Ilias, out the door and to a Jeep so that they could join the team near Qaa and participate in the search.

* * *

Adrian's eyes opened around 8:45 AM Lebanon time. He looked up and all he could see was fabric. Trying to move, every bone in his body ached. He wasn't sure if they were broken or bruised and only knew it was painful. As he surveyed his surroundings, he focused on the face of an older gentleman dressed in regular street clothes but wearing a keffiyeh on his head. His weathered face crinkled into a smile when he saw that Adrian was awake.

"Alnnayim yastayqiz!" he said.

Adrian squinted and nodded at the man as he tried to sit up. "I'm sorry. I don't speak Arabic." he said as he painfully raised himself on one elbow."

"You speak English?" the man asked. "Are you an American?"

Adrian nodded.

"Oh, I thought you were from around here. You've been sleeping for a long time. Here, let me give you some water." The man said, walking over to a cloudy glass pitcher full of water that was sitting in the corner. Picking up a cup that Adrian couldn't tell when it had been washed, the man poured Adrian the water. Adrian looked at the glass and then at the man who was trying to get Adrian to take the water.

"Um. Here's the thing…." He said as he struggled with how to tell the man he couldn't take his water.

"Adrian, just take the water! You'll insult him if you refuse it." He heard Luca say from another area of the tent.

Turning around he noticed that Luca was being propped up on some pillows and had been bandages on his arms and around his head.

"Luca! You made it!" he said.

"Yeah, just barely. You've been out for a while. I was worried. Glad to see you with us." Said Luca as the weathered man took Adrian's hand and put the glass of water in it. Adrian took a deep breath and pushed aside his fear for a moment and tried to take a sip of the water. He just couldn't.

"Adrian, you have to drink something. You'll die without water." Luca told him.

"You're right. I need to drink something." Said Adrian.

"Would you prefer some orange juice?" said the weathered man.

"Orange juice?" Adrian asked. "Yes. I would prefer the orange juice." At which point the man went out of the tent to go make Adrian some fresh squeezed juice.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"We are with a tribe of Bedouins." Luca responded.

"Bedouins? Like, Nomads?" Adrian asked.

"Yes." Said Luca.

"Well, we need to get out of here as soon as possible and get back to Beirut." Said Adrian.

"Adrian, I don't think you completely realize what has happened. Look down." Said Luca.

Adrian looked down and noticed his own leg was tightly wrapped with bandages and splinted with a wooden stick.

"Your leg is broken." Said Luca. "You ain't going anywhere without transportation."

Adrian looked at his leg and then looked around.

"My phone!" he said. Luca held up Adrian's vest and then his phone. "I already tried it. We've got no signal."

"But, if I don't' call Natalie she'll get worried." Adrian responded.

"Probably too late for that. You've been asleep about a day and half. "said Luca. "Listen, the Bedouins are not all like what you see in movies. Some have modernized. I think that this guy, Muhammed, that we're staying with, he's someone's grandpa. More traditional Bedouin. But, he has relatives with regular transportation. If we can catch one of them, we can get word back to Beirut where they can find us, and then we can get out of here."

The older man came in with a fresh glass of orange juice complete with ice that they had foraged from the mountainside earlier that morning. It was very refreshing and gave Adrian new energy. Still, he was very uncomfortable in his new surroundings and wary of being in the mountains away from regular civilization. Still in a lot of pain, he turned to Muhammed and asked him if he could bring him his vest. Muhammed did so gladly, and Adrian pulled out his cell phone and headset and began listening to the next series of recordings that Natalie had made for him. Hearing her voice brought a sense of peace to his spirit and a renewed drive to get back home, whatever it took.


	14. Chapter 14

Leland, Natalie and Ilias arrived at the crash scene around 1:30 PM. Local police were already looking around the area. Natalie held on to Leland's arm as they slowly made their way down the embankment to the burnt-out SUV. The vehicle was laying on its roof with the rear compartment completely flattened. It would take special equipment to open the door and see what was inside. Up front, they could make out the mangled remains of two charred human bodies. Looking at the size of the remains, they could tell that neither one was Adrian.

When a man from a local automotive shop finally arrived with some tools to open the car up, they both breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered the back seat was empty. But where were Adrian and Luca? Was this even the right car? So many questions raced through their minds.

Leland went before Natalie as they began to climb back up the hill, taking hold of her delicate arm with his hand. About halfway up, her eye spotted something about 12 feet away near some brush.

"Wait." She said, pulling her arm away from him and walking towards the object.

Leland followed her and immediately recognized what she saw as blood.

He bent down and touched the blood which had by now dried completely in the heat of the day.

"Looks to be a couple of days old." he said. "And look, here are footprints, with no treads. Plain leather soles?"

"Sandals?" she asked.

"Could be." Leland responded.

The two of them moved slowly around the scene looking for any other clues. About 9 feet away from the first area, Natalie spotted something else. "What's this?" she asked.

Leland walked over and took a small clear electronic device from her hand. He recognized it immediately.

"It's the recognizance device that Monk was wearing in his ear so that he could communicate with Ambrose. They were here."

Natalie looked up at Leland with a mixture of hope and apprehension. "But, where did they go, and who took them?"

"I don't know. But at least we know that they didn't burn up in the crash. Let's go into town and see if anyone else has any more information."

* * *

At the Bedouin camp, Adrian and Luca rested quietly in the tent while being cared for by Muhammed and his eldest daughter Rania. They were fed a bounty of various vegetarian dishes, hummus, flat bread, and a dish somewhat like tabbouleh made with herbs, olive oil and lemon. They were kept as comfortable as they could be given the circumstances. Around 2:00 PM, both men were awakened from a nap by the sound of an automobile pulling up. Outside, they heard Muhammed talking to another man in Arabic, and then in English.

"Jaddy Muhammed, you can not keep these men here forever." The man said. "People are probably looking for them. Let me take them back to town where they can be cared for properly."

Muhammed grumbled a little and waved him off "Alright, alright!"

He entered the tent with the other man and his grumble became a smile.

"Oh, you both are awake!" said Muhammed. "I want you to meet my grandson, Ali Haddad. He has come here from town to deliver some supplies and to see my two new guests. Ali, this man over here is Mr. Adrian Monk, and over here is his assistant Luca Rossi"

"Hello, gentlemen." Said Ali, a nice-looking young man about the age of 30 who was dressed in a t-shirt which showed off his muscular frame and blue jeans. "I trust my Jaddy Muhammed and my aunt Rania are taking good care of you?"

"Yes, very much so." said Luca, reaching forward his hand to shake Ali's.

Ali then turned to shake Adrian's hand, and Adrian hesitated, instead offering a fist bump which was something Ali wasn't aware of.

"It's an American custom." said Luca, chuckling at Adrian's idiosyncrasies.

Ali returned the fist bump. "Neat. You don't have to get other people's germs all over you that way."

"Exactly." Said Adrian.

"What brings you two out here in the middle of nowhere?" Ali inquired. "Jaddy said that he found you near a car that had caught on fire."

"That's what he told us too." Said Luca.

"We don't remember much." Said Adrian, not sure if he was able to trust Ali or not. "Have you heard any more about the car fire?"

"No. Not really, just what Jaddy said." Said Ali.

"Jaddy?" asked Adrian.

"Yes, that is what I call my grandfather. Jaddy Muhammed is a real traditionalist. I love him to pieces. But, I could not live the way he does. I like the modern conveniences. I have offered to take you two off of his hands and into town with me where a real doctor can look you over. My home isn't much, but it is clean and has running water and electricity. Would you like that?" he asked.

"Yes, we would." Said Adrian. "Sure." Said Luca.

"Perfect. I will go make some room for you in my car. Mr. Adrian, I will let you ride in the back seat because of your leg." He said.

"Um, actually…I…I really need to ride in the front seat." Said Monk with a crane of his neck.

"But there is a lot more room in the back for you to stretch out." Said Ali.

"Well, here's the th…" he said, being interrupted by Luca.

"Ali, just let him ride in front. Trust me, it's easier this way. He can put the seat all the way back so he can stretch out his leg. I'll sit in back" said Luca.

"Okay. Suit yourself." Said Ali as he walked back out to the car to prepare the way for his guests.

* * *

As they drove to Ali's home in Masharia Qaa, he quizzed them more about what they were doing in such a remote area. Luca was freer with information than Adrian, but ultimately Adrian relaxed enough to tell him about what was happening in Zahle and what their captors had planned to do to them.

"So, you were here trying to stop the smuggling of artifacts?" asked Ali.

"Yes. We were trying to find out enough about the operation so that it could be shut down." Said Luca.

"And unfortunately, we almost got shut down ourselves." Adrian added.

Ali thought for a moment and then smiled. "Then, I hereby proclaim you as my brothers."

"Huh?" said Luca.

"Your what?" said Adrian.

"My brothers. I do not have any physical brothers, but I will declare you, Adrian and you Luca as my brothers because you are trying to preserve and restore what is ours. Evil men abound nearby and they would strip us of our culture and heritage. The work you are doing is helping to stop them. So, you share in brotherhood with those in our country. And you know what that means?" he said.

"What does that mean?" said Adrian.

"There is an old saying among the Bedouins, it goes like this 'I am against my brother, my brother and I are against my cousin, my cousin and I are against the stranger'" said Ali.

"You're calling us your brother so you can be against us?" asked the ever glass half-empty Adrian.

"Ha ha! You are funny Mr. Adrian." Ali said with a smile. "No. I am saying that you are my brother and though we might not always agree on all matters, we are in solidarity with one another – even if the opposing force is a cousin, but especially if it is a stranger. You are safe in Lebanon from here on out. I will talk to my people. Our tribe will provide you with protection for the great good you are doing for us."

As they pulled up to Ali's small concrete home they were greeted by a yard full of goats and sheep.

"Stay right here, Mr. Adrian. I will get a chair to move you with." He said, running into the house to grab a desk chair.

"Where on earth does he think I'm going to go?" asked Adrian to Luca as he surveyed the goats in the yard and the dingy nature of the house. "Well, I see he exaggerated about the clean part."

"Mr. Monk. Deal with it." Luca said in frustration. "This guy has gone from living in a tent to having his own house and car. You have to cut him some slack."

"I suppose. Oh, how I wish I had a wipe." Adrian said as he opened the car door and tenderly tried to maneuver himself in such a way as to make it easier for Ali to help him out of the car.

Ali returned with a small swivel stenographer's chair that looked like it had come out of the 1970s. Adrian tried to pull himself up by the sides of the car but could not get a good grip. He grabbed the top of the car door and only managed to pull it towards himself, banging his good leg up a little more and eliciting a yelp from himself.

After some difficulty, Ali was able to reach under Adrian's arms and help him to stand long enough that he could swing around and sit. He then pushed the chair from behind, across the bumpy ground, until he reached the entrance of his house. The small lip entering the front door proved insurmountable for the little chair, so Ali grabbed the grumbling Monk once more and lifted him up by his armpits, hugging him as Luca grabbed the chair and put it just inside the house. As he set him back down towards the chair, the chair rolled and Monk went down on his back in a painful thud on the floor. As he mumbled and groaned, Ali stepped over him and tried to pick him up from behind. With his body halfway in and halfway out of the house, Adrian soon found himself face to face with a young goat who sniffed his hair and then started to lick his face.

"Go! Go!" Ali said, as he shooed the goat back into the yard.

Grabbing Adrian once again by his armpits he drug his body over the threshold and sat him up to the point that he was able to lift him and drag him over to the couch and set him down.

Luca was now the only one not out of breath. But he took a seat along with Ali as the three men tried to regroup.

* * *

Once inside, Monk was impressed by the simplicity and, yes, the cleanliness of the building. The walls were painted white and the floors were a shiny tile that was clearly kept quite clean. The furnishings were somewhat sparse, but enough for a young bachelor like Ali. It had a living room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms.

Ali told them men that each of them could have the bedrooms and he would sleep on the couch, but Adrian insisted that he would feel more comfortable sleeping on the couch. Rather than argue, Ali let him have his way.

"Our brother is a bit stubborn." He whispered to Luca as he carried out a pillow and blankets to the couch and helped Adrian get settled in.

"Adrian? Nah!""" Luca laughed. This even elicited a little chuckle from Adrian. He had become self-aware enough to know that he could be a pain in the butt. But, he was stubborn enough to not want to change that aspect of himself. Everything had a place and everything must be in its place or he would see to it that it would be righted.

"You gentleman stay here for a few minutes. Luca, I have some juice and snacks in the refrigerator. Adrian, I'm going to take a quick ride into town and see if I can find a doctor who can come out here. We have a larger hospital nearby…Batoul Hospital, and I'll take you there if we need to, but there is a young man I used to go to school with that lives in town. We still see each other every now and then. I will see if he is available."

"Thank you, Ali. You don't by any chance have Wifi or cellular service here do you?" Adrian asked.

"Not at my house. I don't' even have a regular phone. I can try to reach someone for you when I get in town." Said Ali.

Adrian thought for a moment. Did he fully trust Ali? He thought so, but he didn't want to take any chances with Natalie.

"That's okay. I will call her when we get back into town next." Said Adrian.

Leland, Natalie and Ilias drove into Qaa about 4:00 PM. They stopped at a gas station on the way in and

* * *

Ilias asked if the attendant had seen anyone matching Adrian and Luca's description.

"That's about 99% of the people around here. Sorry." Said the attendant.

They then drove over to the hospital to see if perhaps, since they were obviously injured, they had been checked in there. Nothing.

When Ilias suggested that they turn back and return to Beirut and let the locals handle it, Natalie vehemently protested.

"Adrian is around here and I'm not going anywhere until he's back in my arms." she said.

Ilias asked Leland to reason with her, but he told Ilias in no uncertain terms that once she had decided to do something there was no changing her mind. So, they rented a cabin at the L'Kaa Country Lodge, a beautiful facility with a pool and a spectacular view of the mountains and settled in for the night.


	15. Chapter 15

At his practice in Qaa, Dr. Michael Boulos reviewed his schedule and noted that he had just one more patient to see on what had been a very long day.

The patient that he had just seen was a young man named Abdel Ibrahim, who was about five years younger than himself and a regular patient at Boulos' clinic. He recognized Abdel as a member of one of the less savory elements in the community, and was always bandaging him up after various fights and brawls that Abdel had gotten himself into.

On this day, Abdel somehow came up with a deep gash in his hand which needed stitches. As Abdel waited at the nurse's station, Boulos' assistant went to a back room in order to retrieve an antibiotic for his wound. It was at this point in time that Ali made his way into the building.

Ali walked up to the nurse's station and was immediately greeted by the young single nurse.

"Ali! So happy to see you!" she smiled. "What brings you to us today?"

"Good afternoon Abda, is Michael here?" he asked.

"Yes. Just a moment. He may be in with a patient, but I'll check." She answered.

Michael walked up to Ali "No need, Abda. I'm here. Hi, Ali. What's up?"

"I'm glad I caught you." Ali said. "I have a couple of visitors at my house right now that were in some sort of accident. Americans. One of them looks to have a badly broken leg, and maybe a concussion – though he is awake and lucid. He slept for a long time at my grandfather's house. The other has a head wound and some cuts and abrasions on his arms. He is in better shape. I was wondering if you could come by the house on your way home and look them over?"

"Why did you not take them to the hospital?" asked Michael.

"That was my next choice, but with it just being me, the one has been difficult to move around. He is in a lot of pain and – well, he's not the most cooperative guy. We can certainly take him there if you see it is needed. But, I wanted to have him checked out before we decided to move him." Said Ali.

"Alright. Let me work with this lady for a moment and I'll meet you outside in about ten minutes."

* * *

Natalie, Leland and Ilias settled into the little cabin and she was happy when she actually got a cell phone signal. She checked in with Ambrose and Julie and then called TK to let them know the latest, and to check on Seri. Ambrose let her know that the Alliance was busy on Carlisle's trail, but they lacked the evidence to charge him at that time. Her first priority, of course, was finding Adrian and making sure he was safe – but the investigator in her couldn't help but want to go search for any clues that might be over in that area that would provide the evidence to take down the Commissioner.

* * *

Dr. Boulos arrived at Ali's home about 6:45 PM. Entering the house, he quickly examined Luca and then examined Adrian.

Aside from a gash on his head and some bruising and cuts on his arms, Luca was in good shape. He provided Ali with fresh gauze and an ointment in order to dress Luca's wounds and help them to heal. Adrian was another story. Being a little bit older, he took the brunt of the blow.

"Mr. Monk, you appear to have sustained a slight concussion but aren't really the worse for the wear for it. I'm concerned that the pain in your side may indicate some internal damage to your lungs. Your breathing sounds distressed. It could be just because it is painful to breathe, but I would like to check it out. In addition to this, your leg is badly broken. I'm afraid you are going to need surgery to repair the damage that has been done." Boulos said.

"Surgery? Nah. Not going to have surgery." Said Adrian.

"Mr. Monk, you are seriously injured. We need to send for an ambulance and bring you into the hospital tonight." Said Boulos.

"I'm not going to a hospital. Hospital's and I don't mix. Can't I just take an aspirin or something?" Adrian asked.

"I'm afraid not. If you wait any longer, the damage may be irreversible." the doctor said as he pulled out a cell phone from his pocket. Realizing he had no signal, the doctor grumbled and told Ali, "Ali, I'm going to drive back into town and send an ambulance out here for Mr. Monk. If you could stand ready for them when they arrive."

"Sure." said Ali.

"I'm going too." said Luca, who had not forgotten his charter to be Monk's bodyguard.

"Mr. Rossi, there is really no need." said Boulos.

"No. Where I go, Luca goes." said Adrian, also recognizing that he was in a foreign land and knowing he would feel more comfortable with Luca nearby. "Doctor, if I go, is there any way I could use a phone and call my wife? She has to be worried sick."

"Absolutely." said Boulos. "I will call you in a private room with a phone."

* * *

Dr. Boulos left Ali's home about an hour after arriving. As he pulled away, he did not notice that a car had followed him out to the house. It was Abdel Ibrahim. Abdel had heard the conversation, and knowing the bounty that certain rogue elements had on Western heads, he had thought that he could perhaps score a few bucks by handing over the two Americans into their grasp. Seeing Boulos leave and the activity inside Ali's house, he sat and waited for opportunity to arrive.

* * *

Natalie's phone rang at 10:30 PM, just as she was heading back to the bedroom to get some sleep. Leland, who was still sitting in the living room, turned down the volume on the television set so that she could hear who was calling.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hello beautiful." Adrian said as he laid quietly in his hospital bed.

"ADRIAN! LELAND! IT'S ADRIAN! Oh, my gosh, honey! Where are you? Are you okay?!" she said with happy tears coming down her cheeks.

"I'm okay. I'm a little banged up right now. It's a long story. Hey. This is a really good signal. You sound like you're just next door." He said.

"That's because I'm in Lebanon." she replied.

"Lebanon?" he asked.

"Ask him where he is." said Leland.

"Honey, Leland is here with me. We are in Qaa, Lebanon. Where are you?" she asked.

"You're in Qaa? That's where I am. Some Bedouins rescued me and Luca, and a grandson who lives locally took me into his house. He called in a doctor friend of his who said I needed to be in the hospital, so that's where I am." Adrian said.

"You're at the hospital?" she asked. "We had just checked there."

"I didn't check in until this evening. He wanted my side checked out because I was having a hard time breathing. Turns out that is just because I cracked a couple of ribs. No internal injury. But my leg has been broken in several spots and they are planning on doing surgery on it first thing in the morning." He said.

"Surgery?!" she gasped.

"Yes. I told them that I would prefer to wait until I get back to the States, but they were concerned with the swelling that I could do more damage to the blood vessels and structures if I waited." He replied.

"Oh, Adrian! I'm so glad to hear your voice. I'm coming right over!" she said.

"Natalie, it's late. You don't have to do that!" he replied.

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away." She exclaimed.

"Alright, sweetheart." He smiled. "I'm in room 254 B. Luca is in the room with me, though he doesn't really have to be here. He's protecting me."

"Tell him thank you, from me! Adrian, I love you more than you could ever imagine! I will be there shortly!" she said, making a kissing sound into the phone.

Adrian smiled and made a kissing sound back as he hung up the receiver.

* * *

That evening, Adrian and Natalie were reunited at long last. She curled up in the hospital bed next to him, careful not to put any pressure on his battered body; and, she slept with her head on his chest throughout the night. It was the most peaceful sleep either one of them had experienced in days.

Good thing, because their peace was about to be disturbed.


	16. Chapter 16

Early the next morning, a nurse came into Adrian's room and began getting him prepped for surgery. Natalie was super diligent about what drugs they were administering, making absolutely sure that intravenous tetracycline was not one of them due to his allergy. Beyond that, the only thing that they wanted to make sure of is that he would be completely unconscious when the doctor operated, and that he would feel little to no pain once he came out of the anesthesia. Natalie was more willing to put up with incoherent but happy rambling, than with Adrian crossing the pain threshold.

After a quick kiss, she watched them roll him down the hallway and towards surgery. It was then that it struck her that she had been so worried about his ills that she had ignored her own. The earlier headaches and stomach cramps had been taken care of with a switch in medication, but now she was feeling some muscle weakness and fatigue. The endocrinologist had said this would be a possibility, and if it happened that she was to call and let her know. She wouldn't be able to do this though until she returned home. Until then, she just took every opportunity to rest up so that she would have energy to be there when Adrian needed her.

* * *

Leland opted not to wait at the hospital, but instead decided to poke around the bookstore in Zahle. He was shocked at the plethora of items that were hidden within the basement of the facility and immediately called Jonathan Carter to let him know that they had hit pay dirt. Looking at the scope of what needed to be sorted through, Leland could easily see it taking two or three days to sort through everything and then another several weeks to catalog the items and repatriate them to their original countries.

* * *

Back in the states, Josie and Joey were growing closer. They scheduled a meeting together to meet with Harrison Powell concerning his strategy to win the case, and Joey told her that no matter what happened, he would be there for her – even if it meant waiting for her in prison. Harrison had gotten to the point where he expected that prison time, if it happened, would be minimal. Such was the weakness of the Prosecution's case.

* * *

Ambrose used the internet to try to do research. He wasn't sure exactly what it was he was looking for other than he needed to keep busy so he would not worry about Adrian. It was funny to him, Adrian had always taken care of him in some way. Now, he was looking out for his baby brother. In spite of the circumstances, there was a certain satisfaction in that.

* * *

After six hours, the surgeon came out and informed Natalie and Luca that Adrian had done well during his surgery and was resting well in recovery. As soon as he came out of anesthesia, they would take him to his room and Natalie could join him. While she was talking, she also said that she expected a complete and full recovery. She noted that she had to rebreak the leg in a couple of spots where it had already started to heal wrong, and she put in a few screws and a plate to support the leg while the bone regenerated. She didn't expect it would cause Adrian any trouble, but if it did, she gave them the number of her counterpart in the United States who happened to work at San Francisco General.

While Adrian rested peacefully, trying to wake up, Abdel Ibrahim snuck into the hospital and ducked into a room where they kept surgical scrubs and other gear. He stole a badge on a lanyard hanging inside one of the nurse's stations and tried to look like he belonged. He knew from a source inside the hospital that an American named Adrian Monk had been checked in the night before, so the first thing he did was try to determine where Monk was. Seeing that he was still in recovery, he formulated a plan. He would sneak into the recovery room at the earliest opportunity and wheel Mr. Monk straight out the doors and to his waiting van. All he needed was a diversion.

He thought about pulling a fire alarm, but then thought that someone would probably want to take care of the recovery patients and he wouldn't have his opportunity. He didn't have to think much beyond that because a patient in one of the rooms near the nurse's station coded and a call went out for all who were near to come in and try to help. As the hospital staff slipped into the other room, Abdel slipped into the recovery room.

Entering the room, he saw where Adrian was sleeping soundly next to another man who had been in surgery with a ruptured spleen. Wanting as much confusion as he could get, he switched Adrian's chart with the other man's so that when they realized someone was missing, that they would think it was someone besides Adrian.

Quietly, he turned off Adrian's monitoring equipment and unhooked him from all wires and hoses. Next, he released the brakes on Adrian's bed and wheeled him outside of the room, straight passed a very distracted doctor, and onto the elevator. Hitting the button for the ground floor, he knew he was almost home free, but that knowledge was challenged when the doors opened and he saw Ali walking towards the elevators.

He decided that the best way of dealing with the situation was to try to obscure Monk's face with a clip board while he walked passed Ali; however, when the two men stood side by side Ali looked up and recognized Abdel as the man he had seen at the doctor's office the day before.

"Hey, didn't I just see you?" Ali asked of Abdel.

"No. I've never seen you." Abdel responded.

Ali knew something was wrong and looked down at the patient on the bed. He reached forth his hand to move the clipboard and saw that it was Adrian Monk. Immediately Abdel grabbed Ali by the throat and slammed his head against the marble walls outside of the elevator. As Ali laid on the ground reeling, Abdel took flight.

Just then, Luca walked up from visiting the cafeteria and saw Ali lying on the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Don't worry about me! Go get that guy! He's got Monk!" Ali shouted.

"What guy?" Luca asked.

"He just left. Out the door!" said Ali as Luca went running.

Luca got out to the parking lot just in time to see Abdel lift Adrian out of the bed and shove him harshly into the back of his van. He tried to catch the van on foot, but it was of no use. He hurried back into the hospital and grabbed a telephone to let the authorities know what had happened, giving them a description of the van while he did.

* * *

Upstairs, Natalie was informed that "Adrian" was awake and back in his room. She had the shock of her life however when she entered the room and saw a man who looked absolutely nothing like Adrian lying in bed in Adrian's spot. She walked back out the door and checked the room number and then went to the nurse's desk.

"That isn't my husband." She said.

"What do you mean?" the nurse asked. "That's what his chart said."

"I can't help it. It's not him. Is he still back in recovery?" she asked.

"No ma'am. Recovery room is empty." The nurse responded.

"Well, where is he? Where did you put my husband?" Natalie asked insistently.

Just then, the elevator doors opened, revealing Luca and Ali.

"Natalie!" said Luca. "He's not here! He's been taken!"

"What?!" she said, running over to the elevator.

"I have seen the man who took him. Come with us, we need to call Dr. Boulos and find out exactly who this guy is." Said Ali as Natalie joined them on the elevator.

* * *

Back in Masharia Qaa, Abdel pulled his van into an automobile repair shop and closed the doors. Next, he lifted Adrian up out of the van and laid him down inside a closet. He figured since it was Friday night he had all weekend to figure out what to do next. He knew the primary thing he needed though was to arrange for a drop off of his special asset at the earliest possible moment.

* * *

Leland returned to Qaa as soon as he heard about what happened. By this point in time they had gotten a name from Michael Boulos and an address. The local police went to Ibrahim's home but found that it had been abandoned. Still, something told them that Abdel was still in the area. As the police set up a series of checkpoints and blockades, Leland, Luca and Natalie tried to formulate a plan and Ali began making a few arrangements on his own.


	17. Chapter 17

The cold, hard, concrete of the closet floor and its effect on his throbbing thigh muscles caused Adrian to wake up with a start. This sudden movement further resulted in pain coursing through every fiber of his bruised frame and caused him to scream in agony. "NATALIE!" he yelled in the dark and dusty room that he now found himself in. "NATALIE! HELP ME!"

He listened for her voice, for her footsteps, for anything whatsoever that would tell him he wasn't alone. They did not come. All he heard was the ticking of a wall clock somewhere outside of the room he was in, and the occasional sound of a car passing by outside.

Abdel had taken one of the cars in the lot, and left him there, alone, in pain, and afraid. He had locked the closet door and headed out towards his house to get some food and water, but when he got close to his house, he saw that the police were there, so he just kept driving. He had to make his connection quickly so that he could get paid and get out of town as early as possible. In the meantime, he drove to one of his friend's houses in town and hid out for a few hours until he could move around again under cover of darkness.

Adrian reached for his pockets to retrieve his phone and realized he was still in a hospital gown. The indignity! Where was he? What had happened? Where was Natalie? All were questions that afflicted his mind as he struggled hard to keep a clear head.

* * *

Stottlemeyer, Ilias, Natalie and Ali would not rest. They worked with local police to find out exactly who this Abdel person was; and, they discovered quickly that he had a long rap sheet of violence and theft.

In trying to determine why he would have gone after Adrian and how he even knew about Adrian, they realized that he must have picked up on the fact that there were Americans in the city and that his motive had to be financial. Either he was kidnapping him to get ransom money himself, or he planned on selling Adrian to one of the illicit organizations just over the border. They were told that some Westerners were fetching up to $2,000,000 each; and, a semi-well known person such as Adrian would produce quite the bounty.

A door to door search commenced throughout the city, and Ali made phone calls to everyone that he knew alerting them to be on the lookout for Abdel and the van.

Natalie tried to remain calm, but at one point she experienced something so terrifying that it overwhelmed her. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She felt a sudden staggering pain in her leg right where Adrian had broken his. She was then overcome by an intense sadness and fear unlike any she had ever felt before. It wasn't fear _for_ her husband, it _was _her husband's fear. It was as if she was going through precisely what he was going through at that very moment, as if she were feeling his feelings and anxiety and physical and emotional torture. She knew and could feel that Adrian was being tormented mentally and physically and there was nothing she could do about it. It became too much for her and she broke out sobbing with great tears that even Leland's reassurances could not soothe.

Then, suddenly and without warning, as quickly as the experience started, it just stopped. She stopped crying, straightened up, and felt like herself again. The fear was gone, and she felt a perfect calm. Leland looked at her with amazement and asked if she was okay. She told him that yes, she was, and that somehow she knew Adrian was as well.

At precisely the same time that Natalie's experience had started, a darkness had enveloped Adrian. Between the searing physical pain in his leg and body, and the horrific fear he felt which was only growing in intensity, he was no longer able to keep a steady mind and had begun to plunge into a pit of darkness. Fear of what awaited him was prevalent, but mostly it was fear of the unknown. Dr. Bell always used to say that there was no reason to fear the unknown because it was - unknown, but as he lay on the cold floor shivering in the dark, his mind played cruel tricks on him that caused him to think the worst, feel the worst, and expect that the worst was about to happen.

"FIGHT!" he heard himself say to himself. "DON'T GIVE IN!"

"But how?" he questioned.

"Use your strength." was the reply.

The strangeness of this conversation was enough to place the despair he was feeling into pause mode and he thought. What was his strength? Finally, he concluded that his strength was also his weakness. It was his mind.

His lifelong battle with mental illness had always been both a gift and a curse to him. At this point in time, most of the worst aspects were largely under control and did not rear their ugly heads except at times like this. But what strengths had come out of his weakness? He could only think of one thing – an attention to detail and a photographic memory. He had an unbelievable ability to remember everything that he had been exposed to in minute detail, and his imagination could fill in the blanks with such accuracy that with just the smallest amount of information, he could solve the toughest crimes.

But how could he use that today? How could this strength provide comfort to him at a time where fight or flight was pressing him hard towards a dissociative break?

In an instant, he had it. The tapes. Natalie's tapes. If he could not listen to them through the phone, he could remember them as if they were being played right then and there.

He shifted gears and started with chapter one of _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_ and recalled every syllable of every word that she had said and how she had said it. He remember her intonation and the cadence of her voice. To make it even more real, he imagined her holding the book and reading the words to him – her gold tresses, her soft skin, her smell, her smile. And suddenly, he was transported away from the place he was in. He was in his safe spot, with Natalie, where nothing could harm him. And there he would stay for the rest of the day.


	18. Chapter 18

Abdel reached his source near Damascus, Syria by telephone and set out for the repair shop around midnight. Taking a normal route, the drive from Qaa to Damascus would be about 2 ½ to 3 hours, but given the various checkpoints and roadblocks on the main roads, he would have to go by way of country roads and mountainous terrain, making the drive much longer.

He reached the shop at 12:05 and let himself into the building without turning on the lights. With only a flashlight in hand, he made his way over to the closet and unlocked the door. The sound woke Adrian up.

Abdel handed Adrian a sandwich and a bottle of water, both of which Adrian refused, and then he drug Adrian out of the closet and lifted him up from behind underneath his arms. Adrian wasn't sure if it was the cold floor or the swelling around his incision, but his leg felt numb, something he was thankful for. For Abdel, Adrian was dead weight.

Sitting Adrian down, temporarily on a chair, he handed him a bathrobe that he had taken from his friend's house so that Adrian could cover up. He then threw Adrian's arm over his shoulder and drug him around the torso to the car. Opening the trunk lit, he lifted him up and placed him inside. The last time Adrian had been in a trunk was with Harold Krenshaw in 2009. After that experience, he could deal with trunks since he could see them as protecting him from harm rather than causing it.

Before Abdel closed the lid, Adrian quickly surveyed what he might use in the trunk to help him escape. Being lame from the operation, he obviously wasn't walking anywhere; but, if he could somehow use a crowbar or something, he might be able to open the trunk lid or bust out a light and get some attention. Worst case, he would try to knock Abdel out the next time they stopped. But then what? He needed a plan.

Abdel started the car and took off in the night towards the mountains. Adrian could feel that they were on a smooth road and assumed that it was the main road heading in and out of Qaa, but eventually the road became rougher. He figured they were heading towards the mountains. He needed to leave a trail to let people know which direction they headed, so he used the crowbar to bust out the back headlight, took off his robe and hospital gown and began ripping the thin gown into shreds. As they drove he pushed pieces of gown out the back tail light and onto the road. Hopefully, someone would see it.

* * *

Back at the cabin, Leland, Natalie and Ali sat quietly and waited to hear anything from anybody. Ilias was working with authorities who were still following up on leads from earlier in the day. They had talked to just about everyone that Abdel was associated with but to no avail. Unfortunately, in this case it was most likely that no news was bad news so the two men tried to preoccupy their minds and not think about what might be befalling their friend. Natalie, on the other hand, was calm. If Adrian was in pain, she believed she would feel it. If he were dead, she believed she would know that too. Because she still felt a sense of calm, she was able to make it through these difficult hours and was able to hold on to hope that they would find him in time.

At 12:15 AM, the trio was startled by the ringing of the phone. Leland answered. It was Ilias. The police had interviewed a guy in Qaa who was one of Abdel's associates and had determined that Abdel had been at the apartment that night. The man said that Abdel had hidden Adrian at a repair shop in town and that he was heading towards Damascus that evening, via a mountain route. Police were already scouring the area looking for the van or a car that Abdel had driven to his friend's house. Ilias would let them know if he heard any more.

Rather than wait around, Ali told Leland and Natalie that he was going to go talk to some friends. Ali gave them the number to his cell phone in case they heard anything, and then wished them luck as he headed out the door.

* * *

As he drove, Abdel heard a helicopter nearby and decided to turn off his headlights and navigate the mountain road using only his parking lights. Adrian meanwhile had willed himself to return to the remembrance of Natalie's tapes rather than worry about what came next.

As they climbed the mountain, the area began to experience a rare rainfall, slowing Abdel's progress. Finally, he had to park the car and wait it out because he simply could not see to drive. He turned on the radio to listen to some music and heard the news report alerting people to be on the lookout for his vehicle. The rain lasted for about an hour, at which point he attempted to begin driving again; except now, he had to contend with a thick fog. He finally had to resign himself to the fact that he would make no more progress that night, and he pulled off to the side of the road and went to sleep. Adrian wrapped himself up in the bathrobe and did the same.

At daybreak, Abdel was awakened by the sound of a helicopter passing overhead. He cursed, and decided that he needed to make a break for it. He needed to get from the Lebanese mountains into Syria so he could lose authorities and make the dropoff. He changed course on his route South and began heading East. He was certain that he would not be spotted.

* * *

At 6:30 AM Leland and Natalie received another call. The authorities had found pieces of tail light and what looked to be strips of hospital gown near the entrance of a dirt road leading into the mountains. They were now following that trail in hopes of finding Adrian. They called Ali and let him know the latest and then decided to leave the cabin themselves and join in on the pursuit.

* * *

Reaching the top of the mountain, Abdel breathed a sigh of relief. Only a few miles and he would be out of reach of the authorities. As he began to descend the mountain, the pine trees obscured his view of what was ahead.

* * *

The police followed the trail of cloth until it ran out. They could tell by the tire tracks where Abdel had parked the car during the night, so they followed those tracks until they saw them turn off and head east. A helicopter flew overhead looking for signs of the vehicle. Marking the road that Abdel was on, the authorities set up a roadblock at the base of the mountain. It was their best shot at getting their guy.

* * *

Abdel reached a bend in the road where he could see ahead and spotted the roadblock. He cursed. Turning the car around in the middle of the road, he decided that he would take another path about a quarter of a mile back and make his escape that way. As he made his way down the bumpy path, the feeling returned to Adrian's leg and the throbbing kept him painfully awake. At this point, Adrian had no idea where they were and only wanted to get out of the cramped confines of the trunk.

Abdel knew that he was only a short way away from reaching his destination. Taking another path that would lead him to the foot of the mountain, he wound his way around a bend and then stopped dead in his tracks.

In front of him was a road block of another sort. Lined up across the road was a large group of Bedouins - some holding shepherd's crooks, some holding agricultural implements, some holding small handguns and a few holding AK-47s left over from previous wars. Between the men and the goats and sheep that came with them, the road was impassable. He started to throw the car into reverse but more Bedouins surrounded him from behind. He was trapped.

He bowed his head and turned off the motor. Soon, a tall man dressed in traditional garb came and opened the door. Abdel decided to try to run but was quickly captured. With his arms been forced backwards by two men, Abdel winced as the tall man came and grabbed him by his hair. Lifting up his head, the man looked defiantly into Abdel's eyes.

"Hello stranger. My name is Rashid Haddad. I understand your name is Abdel Ibrahim. Is that right?" Rashid said.

Abdel remained silent.

Taking Abdel's car keys, one of Rashid's compatriots walked over to the trunk and opened it up. Adrian was prepared with a crow bar in hand to come out swinging but relaxed when he realized it was his rescuers.

"Over here Rashid." The man pointed out Adrian's presence to Haddad.

Rashid looked over and saw a banged up Monk and smiled a sinister smile. Shaking his head he looked at Abdel.

"Oh, Abdel. You poor stupid fool. It looks like you have not been treating my cousin Ali's brother very well. Too bad for you. Prepare for justice - Bedouin style!"


	19. Chapter 19

The wheels to the squad car had not come to a complete stop before Natalie opened the door and began running through the crowd. Bedouin tribesmen, law enforcement and members of The Alliance's Middle East office roamed around the ground making it difficult to see much of anything ahead.

"Where is he? Where is my husband?" Natalie shouted as she pushed her way through the crowd followed quickly by Leland who didn't want her wandering off too far without him.

When they came to a group of police officers, one pointed Natalie towards a tent about 50 yards away. Outside of the tent was a small table containing a tray which held a bowl and some gauze-like cloth. It was awaiting some water which was coming to a boil in an iron kettle that hovered over a small fire a few feet away.

Natalie looked at Leland and the two of them took off running. Reaching the tent, she pushed aside the covering and poked her head inside. There, she saw Adrian, lying on a cot under a sheet, being attended to by his friends Ali and Muhammed.

Ali turned and saw them as Natalie ran to be at Adrian's side. Before she could reach him, Ali stood up and stopped her. She struggled for a moment, but he pulled her to the side and tried to prepare her concerning Adrian's condition.

"Natalie, please wait." He whispered, as Leland joined them in the conversation. "Before you go see him, you need to know that he has been in and out of it ever since he was rescued. I looked at his leg and it appears very swollen and angry. I believe he is running a fever. Also, we don't believe he has had anything at all to drink since before his surgery so he's very dehydrated. We offered him water, but he is refusing. He is very weak. If you can talk with him and get him to drink something…"

"Where is it?" she asked with frustration.

"The water?" asked Ali.

"Yes, where is the water that you were trying to give him?" she asked.

He pointed to a glass pitcher with cloudy mountain spring water in it.

"That won't do." She said. "There is no way he will drink that."

"He won't?" Ali asked. "But if a man is thirsty he would drink water from a mud puddle if he needed to. Would he not?"

"No. You don't know Adrian. He needs fresh bottled water. See if anyone has any." She demanded.

As Ali and Muhammed went to look for water, Natalie and Leland rushed over to a sleeping Adrian who appeared flushed.

Using the top of her hand, she confirmed that he was warm when she felt the side of his cheek. She then ran her fingertips from above his eyes and through his hair. As a worried tear fell from her eye, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

He opened his eyes.

"Am I in Heaven?" he asked with a smile.

"No. You're in Lebanon." She chuckled.

"Ahhhh…and here I thought you were an angel." He said weakly, reaching forward and taking her by the hand and closing his eyes again.

"Hey buddy. EMTs are on their way. Are you comfortable?" Leland asked.

"Hi Leland!" he smiled. "I'm as okay as I can be. I'm just so tired." He said fading off into sleep again.

About five minutes later, Ali showed up at the tent with hospital emergency personnel and a couple of bottles of bottled water. Natalie shook Adrian and got him to sit up and drink something while the EMTs lifted the sheet and examined his leg.

"It is as you say. His leg is angry and looks like infection is beginning. We need to get him back to the hospital right away and on some antibiotics." said the lead technician.

"I'm riding with him!" said Natalie.

"Sorry, Ma'am, you cannot. It is against our policy." the EMT explained.

"Then we are following you close behind" said Leland. "He's not getting out of our sight again."

"That is fine. If you can exit the tent for a moment, we need to bring a stretcher in here to transport him to the ambulance." was the response.

* * *

Natalie and Leland walked out of the tent and she folded her arms in front of her. Nervously bouncing up and down on her heals, she wiped a tear from her eyes. Leland gave her a brotherly one-armed hug as they stood and waited.

Within moments, they heard a commotion coming from several yards away. It was a group of men following some other EMTs as they carried a badly bloodied and bruised man on a stretcher up the hill and towards another ambulance. As they watched, the men taunted the injured man in Arabic and spat upon him.

Ali walked up beside Leland and Natalie.

"Who is that?" asked Leland.

"That is Abdel Ibrahim. The man who kidnapped Adrian. He sort of ran into a little mischief when he met my cousin Rashid and got into a brawl with a several sticks and shovels." He said with a smirk.

"That is the man who took Adrian?" Natalie said with fire in her eyes.

"Yes." Said Ali.

"Sorry, but his injuries are not severe enough!" she said, gritting her teeth.

With that, Natalie walked over to the table outside of the tent, tossed the bowl and cloth aside, picked up the tray and charged towards the stretcher. Running full force into the stretcher, she caused the EMTs to lose grip and dump Abdel's body onto the ground. Next, she took the tray and began beating him with it. She got in several good licks, causing what was large gash on his forehead to open even further and gush blood. It took both Ali and Leland to pull her away.

"Don't you EVER even THINK about coming anywhere near my man again! Or anybody else!" she yelled, pointing her finger towards Abdel as the EMTs picked him up and whisked him away.

As Leland tried to get her to calm down, Ali told them that Abdel was would be charged with kidnapping, trafficking and conspiring with a terrorist organization. He would face a solid sentence in a Lebanese prison and would not be bothering anyone for the foreseeable future.

* * *

The door to the tent opened and Emergency personnel carried Adrian out on a stretcher. As they did, he craned his neck looking for Natalie. Spotting her, he relaxed and smiled. She ran up to the stretcher and walked alongside side him all the way up to the ambulance. Giving him a kiss, she told him that they would be right behind him and she would see him at the hospital.

* * *

Adrian's recovery took several days. The infection had just gotten started and responded well to the antibiotics, but the swelling around the incision took careful management less it dislodge the good work that had been done. At long last, Natalie and Leland knew he was feeling better when they observed the demeanor of hospital personnel.

As they walked towards his hospital room for a visit, they observed an exasperated nurse saying something in Arabic and waving her arms. Spotting them, she complained "That man is spoiled! Spoiled, I tell you!"

"Yes…yes he is." Said Natalie with a knowing grin. "What did he do?"

"What hasn't he done? He sent his breakfast back this morning because the food was touching. He refused to take his medicine until we separated the individual tablets into like colors. He broke a piece of equipment because in his estimation the wires were uneven; and, he caused the last shift nurse to take her vacation early because he wouldn't stop complaining about the spacing between the curtains on his window. We are now one short on our shift. What am I supposed to do with that?" she said.

Leland chuckled and looked at the floor. "He's back!"

"I'll take care of him, Frieda." She said, touching the nurse's sleeve and walking into Adrian's room.

As she stepped inside, Adrian was fussing with his blanket. He glanced at Natalie and Leland as they entered the room.

"This hospital really could learn a few things from the United States." Said Adrian.

"This hospital is fine!" Natalie said, correcting him. "You're just going a little stir crazy because you want to get out of here."

Adrian looked a little ashamed for about 3 seconds, knowing she was right and that he had been a bad boy this morning. But then, he switched back into spoiled brat mode.

"How much longer do I have to be in here?" he said.

"Until the doctor says you're ready." Said Natalie.

"Monk, you have to listen to them, or you won't be well enough for them to release you." Said Leland.

"I think I'm well enough to go home now. They just want my money." he said.

"Yeah, Daddy Warbucks. They hit the lottery when they admitted you, that's for sure." Natalie said sarcastically.

* * *

Two days later, Adrian got his wish. His surgeon visited to check on him and noted that he was well enough to be released. Natalie helped him to get dressed and Leland helped him into the wheelchair. Natalie happily let hospital personnel push the chair out to the car and asked about wheelchair transportation back at the airport. The hospital would call it ahead. In the meantime, they gave them some crutches for him to try to get around on.

As Ali began driving them back towards Beirut, Adrian insisted that they stop one more time by the bookstore in Zahle. There was something he remembered that he wanted to check out. Entering the shop, they saw Ahmad who was very cooperative after finding out what Jaheem had done to him.

"Anything you need at all, Mr. Monk. Just let me know." He said.

"I just want to look around for a minute." Adrian said.

As he navigated himself around the store, he had Leland and Ali help him go downstairs. Natalie followed closely behind. Once there, he made a beeline over to the far wall where there were many pictures of Jaheem and Ahmad with various groups of people.

"What are you looking for?" asked Leland.

Adrian scanned the photos until his eyes fell upon one particular picture. It was from the San Francisco Antiques Expo in 2015.

"This!" he said, pointing at the photograph.

"What about it?" asked Leland.

Adrian reached out and took the picture off of the wall and handed it to Leland. Leland and Natalie's eyes immediately lit up with recognition and they began to smile. Looking up at Adrian, Adrian was smiling back.

"I don't know how you do this! You are amazing!" said Leland, shaking his head.

"Nailed him! Great job, honey!" Natalie added, patting Adrian on the arm and smiling with admiration.


	20. Chapter 20

Josie Jones felt a nervous apprehension when she received the message telling her that there was going to be an emergency hearing at the courthouse later that afternoon. She hadn't spoken to Harrison Powell in several days, and the last time she saw him he hadn't indicated anything unusual was going on. Even when she did hear from his office that morning, there was not so much as a hint as to what this was about. They only mentioned something about reviewing new evidence and told her that she should come to court expecting a long and potentially contentious day.

As the bailiff led her into the room, she took a double-take when she spotted a dark-haired Natalie sitting in the gallery with a bearded and banged up Adrian. Why was his leg in a cast? They smiled and nodded when she saw them. Next to them sat Deputy Commissioner Leland Stottlemeyer, absent his wife TK who was undoubtedly watching Seri.

On the opposite side of the aisle sat Captain Charles Keith, Prosecutor Gregory Hook, and Police Commissioner Joe Carlisle.

Harrison Powell walked in uncharacteristically late, with his chest puffed out and a somewhat smug smile on his face. As he slid into his seat, he leaned over to Josie and instructed her to sit with confidence "as a woman who has truth on her side" and "prepare to be dazzled." This was the old Harrison Powell that she had seen on local talk shows hocking his book. What had changed that made him so cock-sure of this case that he had called for an emergency hearing?

* * *

"ALL RISE!" the bailiff said as Judge Sallinger walked into the courtroom and sat down at the bench.

"You may be seated." Said Sallinger. "I guess you all are wondering why we are having this emergency hearing today. I'm wondering it myself. The defense, Mr. Powell, has requested our presence due to some new evidence that may have bearing on this case. Is that correct, Mr. Powell?"

"Yes, your honor." He responded.

"Your honor, I object." Was the immediate response from prosecutor Gregory Hook.

"On what grounds, Mr. Hook?" asked Sallinger.

"On the grounds that the prosecution hasn't seen this so-called 'new evidence' so as to verify its validity." Said Hook.

"Your honor," said Powell. "If the court will indulge me a moment, we just received the evidence ourselves late last night and we have good reason for bringing it forward and dealing with it now."

Sallinger looked at both attorneys. "I would like to request both of your presence back in my office." He said.

"Court will recess for 10 minutes while I confer with Mr. Powell and Mr. Hook over this new evidence." He added as the three men walked back into the judge's chambers.

* * *

Josie looked over at Adrian and Natalie to see if they might clue her in on what was going on, but they were busy talking with Leland. She heard the back door to the courtroom open. It was Joey. He walked in and nodded his head at her and smiled. She smiled in return and then returned to nervously fidgeting with her fingers.

After ten minutes, Hook and Powell emerged from the Judge's chambers and took their seats. Next, Sallinger came forward, grim faced, with a folder in his hand. As he sat down in his chair, court and was called to order. Looking out over his glasses, he addressed the courtroom.

"Mr. Powell has brought in new information that is frankly a bit disturbing. Because of the ramifications of that evidence on this and other cases, I am inclined to indulge him, a bit more than usual, so that he can present his case. This is not a trial, but it will take the form of such, with testimony and potential cross-examination if the prosecution so desires. Unlike in a preliminary hearing where the prosecution calls witnesses to establish whether it has enough evidence to proceed, at this emergency hearing, we will hear more from the defense, to determine whether the earlier judgement of the court can stand. Mr. Powell, the floor is yours. Call your first witness."

* * *

"Thank you, your honor." said Powell, standing. "The defense calls Mr. Paul Stevens."

From the back of the courtroom a bald headed man in his mid to late forties stood up and walked forward. Standing before the bailiff he raised hand and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Stevens." Powell said. "I'm glad you could make it today. Would you state your name and spell it for the court recorder?"

"Yes, Paul Stevens. P-a-u-l S-t-e-v-e-n-s." he responded.

"Thank you, Mr. Stevens, now would you state for the court what you do in life?" Harrison asked.

"I'm a criminal defense attorney." Stevens stated.

"Thank you sir, we won't hold that against you." Powell joked. "Now, Mr. Stevens, do you know the defendant, Miss Jones?"

"I know _of _her." he responded.

"You know _of_ her, but you don't _know_ her, is that correct?" asked Powell.

"That is correct." Said Stevens. "We've never met."

"How do you know _of_ her, Mr. Stevens?" Powell asked.

"Through her boyfriend, Enrique Valdez." Stevens answered.

"I see. And how did you know Mr. Valdez?" asked Powell.

"Enrique and I met about five years ago when he and I were both participating in the Big Brothers program. We worked for a while with underprivileged kids, mentoring them and helping them with school work, that kind of thing." Said Stevens.

"And Mr. Valdez was a Big Brother?" asked Powell.

"That is correct." Said Stevens.

"And you were as well?" asked Powell.

"Yes, that's right." he answered.

"Did your relationship with Valdez extend beyond your time with this organization?" asked Powell.

"We kept in touch." Said Stevens.

"How so?" asked Powell.

"Throughout the years, we would meet up every so often for lunch and catch up on what was going on in our lives. That's how I heard about Josie. He was head over heals with that girl." Said Stevens.

Josie smiled and closed her eyes to avoid getting too emotional with this testimony.

"And when was the last time you heard from him?" asked Powell.

"He left me a message on my phone the night before he got killed. We had been communicating back and forth for several weeks about some funny business that he thought was going on at the place he worked at." Said Stevens.

"Executive Automobile?" asked Powell.

"Yes." he replied.

"And by funny business, what do you mean?" asked Powell.

"He had seen a lot of suspicious characters coming in and out of the place, a lot of money passing hands, people driving vehicles that were far above their means, that sort of thing. He was determined to find out what was going on and was asking me for advice and keeping me in the loop about what he knew." Said Stevens.

"Did he ever indicate that he felt in any danger with what he was doing?" asked Powell.

"Yes. He said that he overheard his boss, Sid Angel, talking on the phone to someone about knowing that Enrique was poking around in their business. He said that he heard Angel say that they might have to 'take care' of the 'problem' that Enrique was creating for them." Stevens replied.

"And by 'take care' of it, did Enrique tell you that he believed that they wanted to hurt him?" asked Powell.

"Yes. He felt that Angel and his guys meant that they would hurt or kill him. That's why he kept everything from Josie. He told me that. He didn't want her to get involved and put her life in danger." Said Stevens.

"And yet, he continued to work there? Asked Powell.

"Yes. He told me that he just wanted to get enough evidence as to what they were doing there, and that after that he was going to quit and relocate his family." Stevens answered.

"I see. Now you indicated before that Enrique had called you and left a message on your phone the night before he died." Powell stated.

"Yes." Said Stevens.

"What did the message say?" asked Powell.

"He told me that he had gotten what he was looking for, that they had been involved in some sort of smuggling and that their go-between was a guy named Adam Kozinsky. He said that he had pictures of some of the evidence and that he wanted me to meet him the next day in order to show them to me so that we could go to the cops with the data together." Said Stevens.

"But you never met with him?" Said Powell.

"No. I was out of town on business. I didn't hear his message until I returned 3 days after Enrique was killed." Said Stevens.

"Did you tell anyone about the message?" asked Powell.

"Yes. I told the police when I gave them my statement." Said Stevens.

"Did you also tell them about Enrique telling you he was in fear for his life?" asked Powell.

"Yes. That was a part of my statement as well." he answered.

"Do you know the name of the officer that you spoke with?" asked Powell.

"Yes." he replied.

"Mr. Stevens, is the officer that you spoke with currently in the room with us?" asked Powell.

"Yes, he is, Mr. Powell." Said Stevens.

"Mr. Stevens, would you point that officer out to the court?" the defense asked.

"Yes sir, it is that man over there." Said Stevens.

"This man right here?" asked Powell as he walked over to the prosecution side of the court and pointed out the man Stevens had identified.

"Yes." Said Stevens.

"Your honor, let it be recorded that the witness, Mr. Stevens, has identified Captain Charles Keith as the man that he gave his statement to." Said Powell.

"Duly noted." Said Sallinger.

"No further questions." Said Powell.

"You may step down." Sallinger instructed. "Mr. Powell, you may call your next witness."

* * *

"The defense calls, Captain Charles Keith."

Charles Keith looked ashen as he took the stand and faced Harrison Powell once again. It was more than his prior testimony that weighed on him. Now, his nerves were on edge due to hearing the damaging testimony that Paul Stevens had given, and knowing in his heart where Powell was likely heading.

"Good afternoon, Captain Charles Keith! It is good that you could be here again." Powell began. "I just had a few questions that I needed to ask you as a follow up from Mr. Steven's testimony."

"Alright." Said Keith.

"Now Mr. Keith, prior to the death of Mr. Enrique Valdez, you did not know Mr. Stevens, is that correct?" asked Powell.

"That is correct." Said Keith.

"So, to your knowledge, there would not be any reason or motive for him to lie in any part of his testimony concerning his interaction with you?" asked Powell.

"OBJECTION, Your honor! Speculation!" said Hook.

"Ah, he is alive." Powell said under his breath, mocking Hook.

"Sustained. You'll keep the snide remarks to yourself, Mr. Powell." Said Sallinger.

"Yes, your honor. I apologize to my colleague, and I'll rephrase." Said Harrison.

"Captain Charles Keith, did Mr. Stevens give a statement to you in which he noted that Enrique Valdez had left him a message on the night before his murder?" asked Powell.

"He may have." Said Keith.

"Yes or no, sir." Asked Powell.

"Yes." he answered.

"And what did you do with this information, Captain Charles Keith?" asked Powell.

"I filed it with the rest of the evidence for his case." Said Keith.

"With the case involving the murder of Enrique Valdez?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Said Keith.

"The one where the known murderer, Mr. Rudy…Schumer, also known as "The black-eyed bandit", the one where he was subsequently killed by San Francisco police?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Said Keith.

"And you say you placed the testimony of Mr. Stevens in with the rest of the evidence for Valdez? Would that include his cell phone?" he asked.

"Yes." Keith responded.

"I see. Now, with the murderer being dead, wasn't it likely that all that evidence related to Valdez's case would get lost and forgotten?" Powell asked.

"I suppose." Said Keith.

"And you didn't find this evidence at all relevant to the murder case involving my client, Josie Jones?" asked Powell.

"Josie Jones killed Sid Angel in cold blood." Said Keith.

"Your honor, I ask that the witness' speculation be stricken from the record. This is an assumption that has yet to be proven." Said Powell.

"Sustained. Answer the question, Mr. Keith."

"Would you repeat the question?" asked Keith.

"Did you not find that the evidence of the phone call from Mr. Valdez to Mr. Stevens concerning potential smuggling at Executive Automobile might be somewhat relevant to the case involving my client, Josie Jones?" asked Powell.

"I don't know." Said Keith.

"Captain Charles Keith, may I remind you that you are under oath. May I also remind you that you originally charged my client with smuggling of the very goods that Enrique evidently had found? I will ask the question again, did you not find that the evidence of a phone call from Mr. Valdez to Mr. Stevens in which he details potential smuggling of goods at his place of business – did you not find that relevant to the case of Josie Jones? Answer the question." Harrison stated.

"It could be considered relevant." Said Keith.

"Yes or no, Captain Charles Keith." Said Powell.

"Answer the question, Keith." Sallinger ordered.

"Yes. It was relevant." Said Keith.

"And yet, at no time did you introduce that evidence and the testimony that Enrique was legitimately in fear for his life into the evidence of this case, did you Captain Charles Keith?" said Powell.

"No." said Keith.

"Why not?" asked Powell.

"I don't know." Said Keith.  
"Oh, but I think you do know, Captain Charles Keith." Said Powell.

"Objection your honor, assumes knowledge of what Captain Keith is thinking." Said Hook.

"Sustained." Said Sallinger.

"We'll get back to that." Powell said. "Moving on. Are you a married man, Captain Keith?"

"Yes." he answered.

"From around here?" asked Powell.

"Yes, I grew up in Bay Point." Keith replied

"And where do you live now?" asked Powell.

"Objection, your honor. Irrelevant." Said Hook.

"Overruled. You may answer." Said Sallinger.

"I live near the Wharf." Said Keith.

"You and your wife?" asked Powell.

"Yes, and our daughter." Said Keith.

"Any siblings?" asked Powell.

Keith paused and took a deep breath. "Yes."

"Brother or sister?" Powell asked.

"One sister." Said Keith.

"And where does she live?" asked Powell.

"Objection your honor, I do not see how this is relevant." Said Hook.

Sallinger looked at Powell over his glasses and said "Mr. Powell, I do hope this is going somewhere."

"It is your honor." he said.

"Overruled." Said Sallinger. "Get to the point, Mr. Powell."

"Yes, your honor. Captain Charles Keith, what is your sister's name?" asked Powell.

"Carla. Carla King." Said Keith.

"Ah. Charles and Carla, cute. And where does Carla live?" asked Powell.

"She lives near the Wharf as well." Said Keith.

"With her husband?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Said Keith.

"Does she have any children?" asked Powell.

"Yes, a boy and a girl." Said Keith.

"And what are their names, Captain Charles Keith?" Powell asked.

Keith was silent.

"Sir, what are the names of your niece and nephew?" Powell asked, rephrasing the question.

"Ashley and Adam." Said Keith looking down at the floor.

"Ashley and Adam. Ashley and Adam King?" asked Powell.

Keith did not answer.

"Mr. Keith, I am looking at the marriage records for your sister Carla King. In the spot where it says number of times married, it indicates that this is your sister's second marriage. Now, I could pull up the records that give the name of her first marriage, but I don't really think that is necessary now, do you, Captain Charles Keith?" asked Powell.

"No. Her first marriage was to Andy Kozinsky." Keith stated.

"And the two children, Ashley and Adam, are they by the first marriage or by the second marriage?" asked Powell.

"First." Said Keith.

"So, Adam Kozinsky is your nephew?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Said Keith.

"The same Adam Kozinsky that Enrique Valdez pointed to as being involved in smuggling over at the Automobile rental facility?" asked Powell.

Keith loosened his tie and said quietly, "Yes."

"What was that Captain Keith?" asked Powell.

"YES! He is the same one." Said Keith.

"Thank you. Your honor, let it be recorded that the individual that Enrique Valdez had identified as having been involved in smuggling, one day before his murder, is the nephew of the witness and custodian of the evidence, Captain Charles Keith." Said Powell.

"Noted." said Sallinger.

Powell walked over to the judge's bench and reached out his hand for the folder that the judge had before him. Pulling out a newspaper article, he pointed out a photograph that had been taken for the San Francisco Examiner a few months prior in which Keith was seen sitting in his office as the new Captain of the Homicide Division, taking over for Leland Stottlemeyer. In the photograph, there could clearly be seen ancient Native American artifacts hanging on the wall next to his desk.

"Now, Captain Keith, do you recognize this photograph?" asked Powell.

Keith immediately knew the significance and turned away from the photo as if it was some grisly scene of death.

"Yes." He answered.

"Where was this photograph taken?" asked Powell.

"In my office at the station." Answered Keith.

"I see. And, did you decorate the office yourself?" asked Powell.

"Objection, your honor. Relevance?" interjected Hook.

"Overruled." Said Sallinger.

"Yes." Said Keith.

"Those are very unique items you have hanging on your wall. Are they Native American?" Harrison prodded.

"Yes. They are Navajo." Said Keith.

"And where did you get these items? It is generally illegal to purchase Native American artifacts of that kind." Said Powell.

Keith paused, and took a deep breath. With a shaky voice he said, "Your honor, I would like to plead my Fifth Amendment rights and consult with an attorney."

"Very well." Said Sallinger. "Mr. Powell, are you done?"

"No your honor. I have two more witnesses." Powell stated.

"Alright. Mr. Keith, you may step down. Mr. Powell, do you need a break or anything?" asked Sallinger.

"No, your honor. I'm actually feeling quite refreshed right now. Thank you." Said Powell.

"Alright. Then let's hear it. Call your next witness." Said Sallinger.

"Thank you, your honor. The defense calls Detective Adrian Monk." said Powell with a smile.


	21. Chapter 21

Adrian looked at Natalie who stood up and released the brake from his wheelchair. Wheeling him up to the stand, she gave him a gentle hug and whispered in his hear "Knock 'em dead." Before returning to her seat.

After Adrian was sworn in and spelled his name for the court, Harrison Powell began.

"Good morning, Detective Monk. How wonderful it is to see you on this fine afternoon." said Powell with a happiness that was genuine.

"Good morning, Harrison. I must say that I am glad to be here." Adrian said with an equally authentic cheer.

"Now, your honor, before we begin our line of questioning, Detective Monk has a rather unusual request to make of the court." said Harrison to Sallinger.

"Go ahead, Mr. Monk." Sallinger replied.

"Y-yes. Your honor. If the court will allow, I would like to withdraw my earlier guilty plea since I firmly believe that there is no crime committed to which I am complicit to, and therefore a guilty plea is wholly unnecessary." Adrian said.

"Alright, Mr. Monk. Since I have not yet sentenced you for any crime, you are within your rights to do so. Let it be recorded that Detective Adrian Monk has withdrawn his guilty plea. I will make the determination at the end of this proceeding as to whether or not there is evidence enough for him to face trial." Said Sallinger.

"Excellent, your honor." Said Powell as he turned to begin his questioning of Adrian. "Now where were we, Mr. Monk? Ah yes. I was telling you that it was so very good to see you here today. You almost didn't' make it, isn't that correct?"

"That's right." Said Adrian.

"Mr. Monk it is pretty obvious that you have been through a lot of physical trauma in recent days. Would you like to tell the court how you got that way?" asked Powell.

"Yes, Harrison. It was like this. I was involved in this case from the beginning. I was there investigating the scene of the crime when Enrique Valdez was murdered. I interviewed witnesses who saw the assailant, Rudy Schumer, at the scene of the crime. I had some good clues to go on and was pursuing those clues when I was removed from the case." Said Adrian.

"And who removed you, Mr. Monk?" asked Harrison.

"Captain Charles Keith." Said Adrian.

"Ah…Captain Keith. I see. Now, Mr. Monk you are well known in this area, and frankly around the world, as an investigator who is pretty much never wrong. Even when I defeated you in court concerning one of my clients several years ago, you were not wrong in what you had determined – and, your perseverance eventually proved that in a second trial in which you beat me and justly got my client condemned to prison. You're a pretty amazing man." Said Powell.

"Thank you." Said Adrian.

"Which is why it is puzzling to me that Captain Keith would not want you pursuing this murder case – pretty much from the beginning, isn't that correct?" Powell said.

"Yes. When we arrived on the scene at Enrique Valdez's murder, Rudy Schumer was still their lurking in the shadows. He ran out from an alleyway just as I had retrieved a piece of evidence from the victim's body and knocked me to the ground, taking the evidence. I jumped up and pursued Mr. Schumer, but unfortunately I slipped in a pile of excrement at the street corner and the perp got away." Adrian said, twitching his neck at the recollection.

"And what was Mr. Keith's reaction to that?" asked Powell.

"Anger. Rage. He fired me then and there." Said Monk.

"Fired you for what was essentially an unfortunate accident?" asked Powell.

"Yes and no. He fired me because I was so wrapped up in being covered in…well, it was very messy…and he fired me for being distracted by the excrement and not being able to pursue Schumer." Said Monk.

"Mr. Monk, were you armed at the time?" asked Powell.

"No, sir." Said Monk. "I had just come to investigate."

"So it seems a little unreasonable that he would have expected you to capture an armed and dangerous man to begin with, when you yourself did not have the ability to apprehend the suspect anyway." Powell stated.

"Yes. It does." Said Adrian, looking over at Keith.

"But, you got rehired?" Harrison asked.

"Yes. The mayor ordered that I be rehired." Said Adrian.

"And, how did that work out?" asked Powell.

"It was progressing, slowly, but we had a few complications." Said Adrian.

"Complications?" asked Powell.

"Yes, first, my wife Natalie had taken ill and we were dealing with the ramifications of that, and we had a couple of house guests show up." Said Adrian.

"House guests, by guests you mean my client Josie Jones and her daughter Serendipity?" Powell said.

"Yes." Said Adrian.

"Did you know Miss Jones prior to this?" asked Powell.

"No. Not at all." Said Adrian.

"Then why did Miss Jones come to you?" the attorney asked.

"Because she was afraid. She had witnessed Rudy killing Enrique and believed that he had seen her watching him. She had a very young baby in tow, and feared that they would come to kill her too. She had seen me on television and thought perhaps I could help solve Enrique's murder and bring about some justice there." Monk responded.

"And did she go to the police with these concerns?" asked Powell.

"No. She was afraid if she went, they would lock her up because she was on probation. She was concerned that with nobody in her life that Seri would be lost in the system." Said Adrian.

Josie turned around and looked towards Joey who sadly shook his head in acknowledgement.

"I see, so what happened next?" said Powell.

"We agreed to take her and the baby in for a little while so that things could be sorted out." Adrian said.

"And she was not a suspect in any crimes at this time, to your knowledge?" asked Powell.

"No. It was only the next day that they issued a statement calling this a possible drug-related homicide and calling Josie a possible person of interest." Said Monk.

"And by 'they', you mean Captain Keith, is that correct?" asked Powell.

"Yes. Keith was the guy who gave the statement." Said Adrian.

"Did you find any drugs anywhere around Enrique's body? Detective Monk?" asked Powell.

"None." Said Adrian.

"Any drug paraphernalia or drugs around Miss Jones?" asked Powell.

"None at all." Said Adrian.

"Anything at all in this case that would lead you to believe that drugs were in any way involved?" asked Powell.

"Nothing." Said Adrian.

"Where did Captain Keith come up with the idea that it was drugs then?" asked Powell.

"Objection, your honor. Speculation." Said Hook.

"Sustained." Said Sallinger.

"That's fine, your honor. Mr. Monk, I have already noted that you are an excellent detective and could add to that, that you have an uncanny ability to read people and to immediately know when they are being untruthful. Have you at any point felt that Josie Jones was not being truthful in her basic story about what had occurred in Enrique's death?" asked Powell.

"No. Josie is telling the truth. It's what happened." Said Adrian.

"And yet, without any evidence that we have seen or know of, Captain Keith singled her out and attempted to paint her as a potentially dangerous druggie who had been involved in the murder of her boyfriend." Powell stated.

"He did." Said Monk.

"What did you think about that?" asked Harrison.

"It made me angry. I knew she wasn't involved. I knew she was telling the truth. It also made me suspicious that there was more to the story of Charles Keith than was on the surface." Adrian said.

"What about Josie? How did she react?" asked Harrison.

"She became very nervous. Wanted to take off. We talked her out of it. Then, my friend Leland Stottlemeyer showed up and she became even more nervous, took off. But eventually returned. She was terrified that the bad guys were going to come and get her before the case could get settled." Said Adrian.

"Why didn't she turn herself into the police?" asked Powell.

"Because of her fear that they were on the wrong track. I talked to her about turning herself in, and even gave her a basic timeline, but she wanted to find some evidence of what Enrique had found in order to redirect the police in the direction that she felt they should go." Adrian said.

"And that's where showing up at Sid Angel's came in, correct?" asked Powell.

"Yes. She went to the Automobile rental to see if she could find evidence." Adrian said.

"And she took your gun?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Adrian said.

"The gun was locked up, right?" asked Powell.

"Always." Said Adrian.

"But she guessed the combination?" asked Powell.

"Yes, I'm not very imaginative when it comes to that. It was pretty easy." Said Adrian.

"In any of your conversations, did she say why she took the gun?" asked Powell.

"Yes. She took it for her protection." Said Adrian.

"Protection that we have already established was greatly needed." Powell stated.

"When did you see her next?" asked Powell.

"I saw her at the automobile rental. I had gone out there with Leland Stottlemeyer because we were trying to find Josie because we knew she had my Beretta." Said Monk.

"By this point in time, Keith had taken you off the case again, right?" asked Powell.

"Yes. They had seen on my phone records that Josie had been communicating with me. He threatened me with various charges and said I would never work in the city again." Said Adrian.

"He didn't even interview you about anything that Josie and you had talked about? You weren't given the opportunity to make any sort of defense or make any sort of statement? Just fired you on the spot?" asked Powell.

"Yes, and said I was done with the SFPD altogether and that I should lawyer up." Said Monk

"That's very peculiar. But back to that day, you say that you went out to Sid Angel's shop because you were looking for Josie and your Beretta. What happened?" asked Powell.

"When we pulled up, Black Eyes was walking away from the building. Leland called in the need for backup and told me to stay in the car. He met up with Lieutenant Briggs a couple of blocks away. They found Black Eyes and a firefight ensued in which Lieutenant Briggs was injured and Rudy Schumer was killed." Said Adrian.

"So, there was never any doubt that Mr. Schumer was an armed and dangerous man." Said Powell.

"None at all." Said Adrian.

"What were you doing at this time?" asked Powell.

"Not doing what Leland told me to do. I'm an investigator. My curiosity got the better of me." Adrian said.

"Continue." Harrison said.

"I saw that the door was ajar, and decided to go into the facility to check things out and hopefully to find Josie." He said.

"What did you see when you got inside?" asked Powell.

"Almost everyone had gone home. The floor where they worked on cars was empty, except for the cars and some boxes of Motor Oil. Lots of Motor Oil." Said Monk.

"Motor oil?" asked Powell.

"Yes. Or that's what it appeared to be. When I picked up a bottle, it was clear there was something else inside of it." Said Adrian.

"So what did you do?"asked Powell.

"I looked around for something to open it up but instead found a prying tool and upon further investigation realized that there were scuffs on the inset to the car door where it appeared people had been removing the door panel and perhaps storing something inside. I've seen it before in my investigations. Fairly common in smuggling operations." Said Adrian.

"Did you open the panel to see what was inside?"asked Powell.

"No." said Adrian.

"Why not?" asked Powell.

"I heard Josie's voice yelling at Angel upstairs." Adrian said.

"What was she saying?" asked Powell.

"It was hard to understand exactly what she was saying but I think she was trying to get information from him as to who his sponsor was." Said Adrian.

"What happened next?" asked Powell.

"I heard a gunshot and came running. Then another gunshot. When I got upstairs, I was there in time to see and hear a third gunshot coming from my Beretta and entering Sid Angel's chest." Said Adrian.

"Was Miss Jones already injured?" asked Powell.

"Yes, and so was Angel. He had been shot in the shoulder." Said Adrian.

"Any idea of the order of the first two shots?" asked Powell.

"No." said Adrian. I was not there to witness them.

"Your honor, I would like to enter into testimony that forensics has indicated that they could not conclude what the order of the two shots were, but due to the angle of the wound on Mr. Angel's shoulder, the first of his wounds was very likely a misfire and an accident." Said Powell.

"Noted." Said the judge.

"What happened next?" asked Powell.

"Well, Josie was badly injured. She made me promise her that I would see to it that her little girl was well taken care of. We really thought she was going to die. I applied pressure until the EMT's arrived and then they used some new technology to get the bleeding to stop altogether until they could get her into surgery. Capta…Deputy Commissioner Stottlemeyer arrived on the scene and found her hoodie. Inside was a bottle of motor oil with something inside. We cut the bottle open and there was a doll or idol inside, made of stone. It was Native American." Adrian said.

"So, Angel and his cohorts were involved in smuggling Native American artifacts?" asked Powell.

"Yes." said Adrian.

"Where is this evidence today?" asked Powell.

"Captain Keith took custody of it." Said Adrian.

"Interesting." Powell stated. "Did you pursue it any further?"

"Yes. Keith had me charged and charged Josie. I had a suspicion that somehow Keith was a dirty cop." Said Adrian.

"Objection, your honor. Assumes facts not in evidence." said Hook.

"Overruled." Stated Sallinger.

"I knew that the truth would prevail. Keith had no case. He was grasping at straws. I hired you to defend both myself and Josie. And then, in order to help you to focus more on her defense, I pleaded guilty to the charges, figuring that once she was acquitted my own case would take care of itself." Said Adrian.

"That's an awful lot of trust to put in the legal system, Mr. Monk." Said Sallinger.

"I do trust the law, your honor. And, I trust my Defense attorney." Said Monk.

"Thank you for your vote of confidence, Detective Monk. That means a lot." Said Powell.

"Now, Mr. Monk, after you pled guilty, what happened next?" asked Powell.

Adrian responded guardedly, careful not to expose the existence of The Alliance.

"I continued pursuing the case. It felt bigger than just Sid Angel. He was the dealer. He had to have some pretty powerful clients. The judge had not given me any restrictions. And so, one thing led to another and I got some information from the New York District attorney's office about some other smuggling operations in the city and began scoping those and some other evidence out." Said Adrian.

"Other evidence?" asked Powell.

"Paul Stevens. Josie had done some pretty good detective work on her own before she left and had determined that Sid Angel was represented by a P. Stevens multiple times in the past. That turned out to be a dead end because the P. Stevens that she saw was Patricia Stevens. No relation to Paul. But, it did hook us up with Paul and provided you with the information you now have." Said Adrian.

"I see. And concerning the other operations?" asked Powell.

"Yes. My wife Natalie and I decided to go undercover to scope one of those out. It was run by a man named Doug Campen. Much larger place than Angel's and a different set of artifacts." Said Adrian.

"Different? How?" asked Powell.

"These artifacts were from the Middle East. Specifically, they were from areas known to have been looted by some nefarious terrorist organizations in exchange for a lot of money. It's part of how they fund their operations." Adrian replied.

"And did you find anything interesting with Campen?" asked Powell.

"We sure did. We verified that he had these sorts of artifacts and I decided to ramp it up a bit and ask for larger more valuable items. He actually offered to take us to his source in Lebanon." Adrian said.

"Lebanon, the country?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Said Adrian.

"Did you go?" asked Powell.

"I did. He took me on a plane to Beirut and then to a shop in Zahle where his supplier worked. They took me down in the basement of the facility and it was full of larger artifacts. The supplier, a man named Jaheed, offered to show me some even larger items and I went with them to another warehouse. It's amazing, and sad, what all they had there." Said Adrian.

"Weren't you afraid?" asked Powell.

"I'm always afraid. But, yes, I was. But I tried to play it cool." Said Adrian.

"What happened next?" asked Powell.

"All was going well. I was about to make the deal. We headed back to the shop and Jaheem and Campen were busy talking and making me some tea, while I was watching CNN about the attack on the mayor. In the press conference about that event, I noticed something that disturbed me." Adrian said.

"Okay, we'll get back to that in a minute, Mr. Monk. You said that Jaheem and Campen were busy talking and that things were going well. What happened next with regards to Jaheem and Campen?" asked Powell.

"Oh. Campen got a phone call. Someone had ratted me out and blown my cover." Said Adrian.

"And then?" asked Powell.

"Well, then they took me and a gentleman that I was traveling with, Mr. Luca Rossi, away in the back seat of a car to dispose of us." Said Adrian.

"Dispose of you?" asked Powell.

"Yes. I thought they were going to kill us. But they meant to sell us to terrorists over the Syrian border. It was always about money." Said Adrian.

"The _love _ of money is the root of all Evil." Said Powell. "Would you tell the court what happened next?"

"We, Luca and I, managed to get our arms around the necks of Campen and Jaheem and they rolled the car. We were thrown from the car, which his how I got injured, but Campen and Jaheem died in an explosion of the vehicle. We were rescued by some Bedouins, and I was reunited with my wife and my friend Leland before they operated on my leg - they had come over when they heard I was missing. And, we thought we were home free, but then I was kidnapped again by someone not related to this case, again with the goal of selling me to the Syrian terrorists." Said Adrian.

"Goodness!" said Sallinger.

"You had quite a trip." Said Powell.

"One I never want to repeat." Said Adrian. "The Lebanese people are really quite wonderful. Very hospitable. Strong. But, just like here, there are some bad people hanging around them. As long as those people exist, then they ruin it for everyone."

"Indeed." Said Powell. "Well, I see from your appearance here in court today, that you managed to get out of the second kidnapping alive and in one piece."

"Yes, even in the piece is a little broken up, I'm thankful to be alive." Said Adrian.

"We are thankful as well. But I do need to know one thing. Did you solve the case while you were there?" asked Powell.

"Yes sir. I did. Here's what happened." He said as he looked to the Judge, and then at Josie, and finally at the Prosecution.

"Sid Angel was just the tip of the iceberg. He was really a low-level player, but he trafficked in something that was somewhat of a hobby for Captain Charles Keith. Keith had a nephew that worked for Angel who had seen some of the merchandise that Angel was smuggling and wanted his cut in the process. In exchange for keeping the police at bay and supplying the occasional relic, Charles Keith became involved in Angel's operation.

They had a lucrative side business for a while until Enrique Valdez came along. Valdez was young and enterprising, and he was one thing that they were not - honest. When he saw some shady things going on at the shop, he wanted to get the law in on it but was thwarted when Angel became aware of what was happening and put an end to his life." Said Adrian.

"How did Angel become aware?" asked Powell.

"We believe that he somehow bugged Enrique's cell phone. It was a company phone. Would have been easy enough to accomplish." Said Adrian.

"I see. Continue." Said Powell.

"Anyway, Sid was sloppy and Keith, knowing that I was on the trail, sought to get me removed from the case almost immediately. He wasn't a trafficker himself, but he had been involved in the operation at some level, had obstructed justice in dealing with the crimes, and was in possession of stolen merchandise. All of this would definitely have put a damper on his career aspirations if it was found out. So, he got me kicked off the case – twice, and then tried to tie my hands by charging me with crimes he knew I hadn't committed and tried to deflect by having poor Josie charged with crimes as well." Adrian said.

"Why didn't you go to the authorities with this information?" asked Powell.

"Because. It still felt bigger than Angel and it felt bigger than Keith. Angel wasn't the kingpin, and neither was Keith. We needed to find out who was spearheading this whole enterprise and that meant doing some additional investigation." Said Adrian.

"And that's where the file from the Attorney General of New York came in?" Asked Harrison.

"Yes. When we spoke to the A.G. he was very interested in what we were doing and gave us a list of facilities in the area that were known trafficking sites. Natalie and I narrowed it down to three sites that looked interesting. That's how we came upon Campen." Said Adrian.

"Doug Campen was the Kingpin?" asked Powell.

"No. Doug Campen was in partnership with the Kingpin. Campen was just the salesman. He was really a front for the man that was funding and covering for the whole Northern California franchise." Said Adrian.

"And do you know who that man is?" asked Powell.

"Yes, sir. I do." Said Adrian.

"Is he here with us today?" asked Powell.

Carlisle stood up and began to leave.

"Yes, Harrison. It is that man who is trying to leave right now." Said Adrian.

Carlisle was stopped and told to return to his seat.

"Interesting. Well, I have no further questions for Mr. Monk at this time." Said Harrison.

"Any questions from the Prosecution? No? Okay. You may step down…or go back and sit by your wife. Good work, detective." said Sallinger.

"Thank you, your honor." Said Adrian as Natalie stood and pushed him back to their area in the gallery.

"Your honor, the defense would like to call one more witness before you make your determination." said Powell.

"Go right ahead, Mr. Powell." said Sallinger.

"Thank you, your honor. The defense calls, Police Commissioner, Joseph Carlisle to the stand." Said Powell.


	22. Chapter 22

Commissioner Joseph Carlisle clinched his jaw and straightened his spine and walked up to the witness stand with head held high. After being sworn in, he looked with a gaze of steel at Adrian, Natalie and Stottlemeyer and then turned his eyes towards Harrison Powell. He had spent an entire career testifying at trials, and a few times had to testify under circumstances that were detrimental to his badge. But today was different. During the earlier times, he at least had been on the right side of the law, he thought. Today, he stood as a law officer who was about to be exposed as a complete and utter fraud and a shame upon the badge he wore. He wore a strong and proud demeanor, but internally he was crumbling. He had thrown it all away, and for what? Money?

The defense attorney came forward and picked up the folder from the judge's bench. Placing it with his notebook he began the questioning.

"Good afternoon, Commissioner Carlisle. I thank you for coming today and for your service to this great city. If you don't mind, I have a few questions I would like to go over with you. I should not be long." Said Powell.

"Alright." Said Carlisle without flinching.

"Mr. Carlisle, you've been in this room throughout the testimony today. You've heard Mr. Stevens. You've heard Captain Keith, and you've heard Detective Monk. Each one of them has, in their own way, painted a picture of the interwoven tapestry of events surrounding the murder of Enrique Valdez and the subsequent and related deaths of Mr. Rudy Schumer and Sid Angel. Following their deaths, there was the death of a Mr. Douglas Campen and Jaheem…what was it…" He looked in his notebook. "Yes, Saliba. Jaheem Saliba. Now, Mr. Carlisle, did you know any of these men?" asked Powell, laying down his notes on the edge of the witness stand.

"I don't recall." Said Carlisle.

"Let's see if I can raise your memory a bit." Said Powell. "Mr. Schumer, you probably never met. Scary looking guy. Eyes that were tattooed with black ink. Why some people do that I'll never know that. But you didn't know him, did you?"

"No." said Carlisle.

"How about Sid Angel? Did you know him?" asked Powell. "You know, maybe back when you were still walking a beat? Angel was known to have been a petty criminal. Ever run into him?"

"Not that I can recall." Said Carlisle.

"Objection your honor, does the defense have a point he wants to make or are we just going to engage in meaningless dialogue for the next fifteen minutes. The witness already stated that he doesn't know the men." Said Hook.

"Overruled. If the defense will hurry it up…" said Sallinger.

"Yes your honor. I'll skip ahead a bit. Police Commissioner Joseph Carlisle, have you ever been to Lebanon?" he asked.

"No." said Carlisle.

"No? May I remind the witness that he is under oath?" said Sallinger.

"I answered the question, I've never been." Said Carlisle.

"Interesting. Very interesting." Said Powell. "Your honor, since this is somewhat of an informal proceeding, and since Detective Monk is still under oath, may I ask him a question in the gallery without him having to wheel his chair back up here? I promise it is relevant to the questioning."

"You may." Sallinger said.

Powell walked over by the Monks in the gallery and looked at Adrian.

"Now, Mr. Monk. I stopped you on the stand a little while earlier when you were talking about watching a press conference on CNN while you were in Jaheem's shop. Is that right?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Said Adrian.

"First of all, who was holding that press conference?" asked Powell.

"Police Commissioner Carlisle." Said Monk.

"And where was the conference being held?" said Powell.

"In the Commissioner's office. I recognized his desk lamp. I've touched it many times." Said Adrian.

Powell chuckled. "Okay, Mr. Monk, you said you noticed something during that broadcast. Would you tell the court what you had noticed?"

"A logo." Said Adrian.

"A logo?" asked Powell.

"Yes. There was a logo on a pad of paper that the Commissioner was using to illustrate what had happened with the mayor earlier in the day. It was an abstract Rose pattern." Adrian responded.

"And did you recognize the logo?" asked Powell.

"Yes. I did." Said Adrian.

"Where did you recognize the logo from, Detective Monk?" asked Powell.

"I recognized it from the hotel that I was staying at in Beirut." Adrian said. "It was from the Lancaster. There are various Lancaster suites throughout the world and several of them use this Rose motif in their logo, but they appear to all be unique. This particular rose was unique to the Lancaster Hotel Eden Bay, right there on the Mediterranean." He said.

"Interesting. Thank you for that information, Mr. Monk. Now, Commissioner Joseph Carlisle" he said turning back to the witness stand. "Do you still maintain that you were never in Lebanon?"

Carlisle smirked. "Is this what you've got, Powell? A notebook? I thought you were better than this."

"Just answer the question, Commissioner Carlisle…and I again remind you, you are under oath." Said Powell.

"I've never been to Lebanon." Said Carlisle.

"I see. And you don't know Doug Campen?" said Powell.

"No. I've never met him." Said Carlisle, shifting his eyes and adjusting in his seat.

"And you've never met Jaheem Salida either?" asked Harrison.

"No." said Carlisle.

Powell walked over to the folder and pulled out a photograph. Showing it to Carlisle, he asked. "Police Commissioner Carlisle, is that you in this picture?"

"Where did you get this?" asked Carlisle.

"Mr. Monk was the one who got it…from a wall in Jaheem Salida's shop in Lebanon, is that correct, Mr. Monk?" Powell asked.

"Yes, sir." Said Adrian.

"Is that you, Mister…Commissioner Carlisle?" asked Powell.

"Yes." said Carlisle with a sigh.

"Do you know the man who is standing next to you?" asked Powell.

"I don't recall." Said Carlisle.

"I see. Your honor, the defense would like to enter into evidence this photograph taken in 2015 at the San Francisco Antiques exhibition. You will notice in the photograph that Commissioner Carlisle is standing next to a man whom we have identified as one Douglas Campen, the antiquities dealer here in San Francisco. To Campen's right is a man that Adrian Monk and Luca Rossi have identified as Jaheem Salida." Said Powell. "The defense would like to mark this as exhibit A."

Carlisle pursed his lips and raised his chin, his proud demeanor being betrayed by the beads of sweat that were beginning to form on his forehead and above his lip.

"So you were at an antiquities exposition, and just happened to be standing next to Campen and Salida, the very men alleged to have been involved in the illegal smuggling of antiquities here in San Francisco. And you didn't know them?" asked Powell.

"Objection your honor, asked and answered." Said Hook.

"Sustained." Said Sallinger.

"Your honor, I would like to make sure it is duly recorded that the witness has said multiple times, under oath, that he does not know Campen or Salida before I proceed." Said Powell.

"As you wish. Court recorder, make a note." Said Sallinger.

"So you were at this antiquities conference…are you a collector, Commissioner?" asked Powell.

"I have a few old pieces, but I would not call myself a collector." The commissioner answered.

"So why were you in attendance?" asked Powell.

"I like history." Said Carlisle.

"Ah, okay. That would make sense. Because undoubtedly, many people specifically go to an exposition of ancient artifacts to study their historical significance." Said Powell.

"Sure. Is there a question in there?" asked Carlisle.

"No. Just a statement. Now, you've stated you've never been to Lebanon and that you've never met Mr. Campen or Mr. Salida, and yet you have this notebook which could only have come from the Lancaster Hotel Eden Bay in Beirut, Lebanon. How do you explain that?" asked Powell.

"Maybe someone left it hanging around my office. I don't know. Sometimes things just get picked up." Said Carlisle.

"Okay. I suppose that is true sometimes, except there is something else which is troubling me." Said Powell. Walking to the folder he pulled out a stack of papers.

"Now we did a quick search of flight records for people who traveled to and from Beirut over the past, say, six months…and we did not find your name. Yet, when I look at your phone records, I see several calls to and from country code 961, which is the country code for Lebanon – one as late as this past month going to the cell phone of Doug Campen and occurring right around the time that Detective Monk testified that someone had called Campen and 'ratted him out.' As a matter of fact, there are around eight calls in your records to Campen's number and one additional call, occurring about 6 months ago, to Salida. The Salida call happened, by the way, at a time when you were out of office and several calls were made from your phone while it was in Lebanon.

Now, Mr. Carlisle, either your phone has a mind of its own and just randomly calls some rather bad people or…someone hasn't been truthful while under oath. Which is it?" said Powell.

Carlisle knew he was busted.

"I work in this office, and I work in this office. Day in and day out. I watch as myself and my officers are denigrated and spat upon and our lives are put in danger. And we do it because we love the law and we love justice. But after a while, when you've worked so long, and you get paid so little, you can get tempted. At first it comes in subtly. You feel like you deserve a little something more than you have been given. So you take a little. As your power grows, so does your taste for extravagant things. And when that happens…an ugliness takes over." Said Carlisle.

"Commissioner Carlisle, I will ask again. Did you know Doug Campen?" asked Powell.

Carlisle looked down. "YES! Is that the answer you wanted? Yes, I knew Doug Campen. Are you satisfied? You feel good that you've made your Police Commissioner look bad?"

"How did you know Mr. Campen?" asked Powell.

"He was my business partner. I funded his business and he brought in money from the sale of artifacts." Said Carlisle.

"Was he your only partner? And, before you answer, I would like to remind you that we have your phone records." Said Powell.

Carlisle looked up with flat, hate-filled eyes. "No."

"That is right, Mr. Carlisle. You have several partners in the San Francisco Bay area, and in Northern California, isn't that right?" asked Powell.

"Yes." said Carlisle.

"Was one of them Sid Angel?" asked Powell.

Carlisle paused and then looked up at Powell. "Yes. One was Angel."

"Mr. Carlisle, were you the one who called Doug Campen and exposed the cover of Adrian Monk?" asked Powell.

"Yes." Said Carlisle.

"Did you ask him to kill Monk?" asked Powell.

"I asked him to get rid of the evidence. How he did that did not matter to me." Said Carlisle.

"What about Sid Angel? Did you ever talk to him about Enrique Valdez needing to be 'taken care of due to him becoming a liability." Asked Powell.

"I might have." Said Carlisle.

"Yes or no?" asked Powell, subtly waving Carlisle's phone records at him.

"Yes." Said Carlisle.  
"You ordered the hit on Valdez?" asked Powell.

"I didn't order a hit. I told Angel to take care of it. Again, how they do that is their business." Said Carlisle.

"It's supposed to be your business, Police Commissioner Joseph Carlisle. Did you not swear to uphold the law?" asked Powell.

Carlisle looked up at Powell with defiance.

"That's okay, Mr. Carlisle. I'll just leave you with that question. You will likely have a long time to think about that." Said Powell. "Your honor, I have no further questions."

"Anything from the prosecution?" asked Sallinger.

"Nothing, your honor." Said Hook.

"Very well. The court will stand in recess for 15 minutes while I come to my decision."

While they waited, Joey Garcia came over and gave Josie a big hug and patted her on the back. The joy and excitement they felt was palpable. On the opposite side, there was satisfaction coming from the Monks and Stottlemeyer, but there was not happiness. They had seen too many officers put their lives on the line for justice and truth and had watched for years as the police had to defend themselves against the few rogue cops that gave the force a bad. Now, they watched not one, but two of the ranking representatives of the SFPD sit on the witness stand being exposed as villains. At least there was rest in knowing that they wouldn't do it again.

Precisely fifteen minutes after he left the courtroom, Judge Nigel Sallinger walked back into the courtroom with his verdict. After he told those in the gallery that they could be seated, he sat back in his seat and looked over the entire group, thinking what he would say.

Finally, he began.

"You know, I got into the legal profession several decades ago because my father was a cop, and my grandfather was a cop and they had instilled in me a love for the law and the Constitution and objective truth. What we have witnessed in this courtroom today is the antithesis of that point of view. Commissioner Joseph Carlisle and Captain Charles Keith betrayed the badge they wear and the people they are suppose to represent. They broke multiple laws, some even resulting in the loss of innocent human life. Bailiff, I would like for you to apprehend these two pathetic individuals and advise them of their rights." Said Sallinger.

"Wait a minute!" said Keith. "You can't do this!" he said. Looking at Carlisle he said "Joe! They can't do this can they." Joe just scowled at him and walked over to be put in cuffs.

After they were removed from the room, he addressed the two attorneys.

"Mr. Hook, Mr. Powell. You are both excellent examples to your profession. And, I know that both of you have only wanted it such that truth will prevail. In the case of Miss Jones, I believe it has prevailed.

On the count that Miss Josie Jones committed murder, I find that not only is their insufficient evidence to proceed with her case but I believe her to be wholly innocent of this crime and order that all charges be dropped – with prejudice.

On the count of the stolen firearm, I believe she was guilty but that there were extenuating circumstances which caused her to do what she did. I recommend that those charges also be dropped.

As for the charges against Mr. Adrian Monk, I find the charges stupid and concocted for the simple reason that Mr. Monk is too good at his job. Mr. Keith simply wanted him out of the way. I'm throwing those charges into the trash can as well, where they belong.

Miss Jones, you have been through a lot. I would like to apologize to you on behalf of the State of California for our part in the pain you have experienced.

Bailiff, please release Miss Jones and get her processed out.

There being no other business, this court is adjourned." Sallinger concluded.


	23. Chapter 23

Four weeks later, the remnants of Hurricane Dominic had brought unseasonably cold temperatures and dark rainy skies to the San Francisco Bay Area. It was fitting, Natalie thought, because her external world now matched how she felt inside.

She had already experienced the roller coaster of emotions that one feels after achieving a favored goal - first the feeling of adrenaline-laced elation on achieving the victory, then the inevitable slump as life returned to normal. Currently, she had another challenge in front of her. What was normal? Everything seemed disjointed. Nothing seemed in its place. Her daughter was 3000 miles away. Her husband was with her, but was taking a break from work as he healed up and decided what his next step should be. And now she faced a new hurdle - the loss of a dream.

The prior evening, Adrian and Natalie had hosted a dinner party at their apartment in which Leland and TK, Tommy Briggs and his wife Stephanie, and Joey and Josie all played a part. It was easy company, made even easier by the fact that Adrian had handled having such a big event with less weirdness than normal. He even let them use his restroom (although he was up until 3:00 AM cleaning it afterwards and switched out the toilet seat).

The kick in the gut came as everyone was saying goodbye. As Joey and Josie were leaving, Josie called Adrian and Natalie aside and gave them news that both of them knew was coming but had been afraid to express to one another. She was moving to Mesa Verde in the morning to live with Joey and she was taking Seri with her.

They had tried to play it cool regarding the news, but after the lights were turned out and their dinner guests had gone, Adrian and Natalie laid in bed holding each other throughout the night and cried themselves to sleep. She had so wanted to raise a child with Adrian, and between her aging body, her Hashimoto's, and now this, her heart was telling her to give up the dream.

* * *

It was now daybreak, and she felt an emptiness inside. Lost in her thoughts, she had missed the fact that Adrian had been in the bathroom for over an hour. Finally, when she realized what time it was, she went to check on him. He answered her knock on the door, hobbled with one crutch out of the restroom and leaned against the door frame. He was smiling. He had shaved his beard, and had left, as a compromise, a well-trimmed mustache.

Thrusting both of his hands out to his side in presentation mode, he inquired "You like?"

He was clearly proud of himself.

Natalie smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, careful to not knock him over, and said "I do. You look like a regular Rhett Butler."

"Who's that?" he asked.

"You don't know who Rhett Butler is? Oh, Adrian! I need to give you an education." She said.

"That's okay. You educate me enough." He said, waving her off and moving towards the chairs by the dining room table.

"Nooooo! You've got to see the movie! _Gone with the Wind_. It has Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in it." She said.

"No really. I believe you." Said Adrian.

"Adrian Monk! This is one of those moments where you need to stop and weigh what it is you are protesting. Your wife is feeling blue and wants to watch a romantic movie with you. You are supposed to say, 'Sure Natalie! I would be happy to watch the movie with you.'" She chided him.

"Alright, alright…Go ahead and go to the motion picture video tape store and rent it for us." He said.

"Honey, there are no more movie stories. Or, at least there are very few." She said.

"What? What did they do with the video tape stores? Nevermind, I could have told them they wouldn't last." He replied.

"How's that?" Natalie asked.

"Well, I used to go to those stores when Trudy and I were dating. And, every time we went in there, they would never have the video cassette tape that I wanted." He said.

"What was that?" asked Natalie.

"_Rocks and Minerals along the North American Craton_." He replied.

She snickered.

"Ohhhhh…._that_ movie. I heard that was really riveting. And, I'm sure it would have been great for date night. Starred Meryl Streep, didn't it?" She said sarcastically.

"Laugh all you want to." He said. "It was a good production."

"I'm sure it was. But, now movies are on the internet." She replied.

"I've heard about the 'movies on the internet.' You need to stay away from the movies on the internet." He said.

"Adrian, it's no different than renting them – except… and you will like this – when you rent a movie online, it doesn't come in a case that other people have touched and left all of their germs on." She said.

"Really?! That's outstanding!" he said with excitement. "Do you think they would have _Rocks and Minerals along the North American Craton?"_

* * *

After breakfast, both Monks got ready for the day ahead. Natalie planned on dropping Adrian off at The Alliance offices for about an hour and she was going to visit her endocrinologist for the results of her most recent blood work. She was getting tired of being stuck with needles, but had experienced a drastic difference in how she felt physically over the past few weeks. Maybe it was just the reduction in stress, but she had hope that the doctor had finally reached the magic dosage of her thyroid medication and that her body was returning to normal.

In terms of her mood, just being around Adrian and being able to be silly that morning had brightened up her day. However, there was always this dull ache lurking in the undercurrent of her emotions. She would get over it, she was sure. But for now, she had to grapple with being a little sad. She missed Julie. She missed normalcy. And, she would miss little Serendipity who brought a certain joy into their now quiet home.

* * *

Adrian entered the compound at around 11:00 AM and used his crutches to go to the end of the hallway and into the big conference room. He wasn't sure what was up; but, he was anxious to receive an update on their case.

As he entered the room, Jonathan Carter stood and walked over to his side. He knew better than to offer his hand for a handshake, and just patted Adrian on the arm.

"Welcome back, Mr. Monk!" he said with enthusiasm. "I'm so very glad to see you."

"It's good to be back, Jonathan." said Adrian. "Anxious to hear what you know."

Sallinger was there as well, as was Leland, as was the Mayor and Tommy Briggs.

As Adrian looked around, he thought "this is a regular family reunion."

When they were finally seated, Adrian found himself near the head of the table next to Leland who was unusually happy that day. In a moment, he would find out why.

"Gentlemen." Said Carter. "I just brought you all here today to congratulate you on a job well done. We've not only captured the lead trafficker for the Northern California region, but he has been talking. Europol has just arrested Samir Alfian, a man we believe is responsible for around ¼ of all of the illicit antiquities trade in North America. In addition, all of the shops in our region have been shut down and the entire network has been put on its heals, largely due to the heroic efforts of our dear detective friend here, Mr. Adrian Monk. Congratulations, Mr. Monk, on a job well done."

"Here, here!" said the other men around the table as Adrian humbly nodded his head.

"But that's not all that I brought you all here for today. Our fine mayor has a few organizational announcements to make and then I have a little more to say before we adjourn. Mayor?"

The Mayor smiled and looked around the table of men as he spoke. "Good morning, Gentlemen. I just wanted to thank you for your service and had a few changes in our organizational structure to announce. First, Judge Sallinger, who I understand has been so very gracious with his time and with the delicate maneuverings that had to be undertaken within his court, is retiring from The Alliance and returning to his day job in San Francisco's court."

Carter stood up, "We'd like to thank you, Judge Sallinger, for your expert advice and for your willingness to help us bring some of these elicit traffickers to justice."

"Here, here!" said everyone around the table.

The Mayor continued, "Also, we have a new Captain for the Homicide Division of the San Francisco PD. Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Captain Tommy Briggs. Captain Briggs has served the SFPD faithfully for 20 years and was very much involved on the police side of things with this case. He showed his dedication and bravery by taking a bullet from the gun of the murderer of Enrique Valdez, a couple of blocks from Enrique's place of business. He will be a wonderful addition to the team."

The men around the table applauded.

"I would also like to announce that Leland Stottlemeyer, who is certainly no stranger to the world of San Francisco criminal justice, has accepted the role of Commissioner of the San Francisco Police Department. His long years of faithful service have made our community a safer place and I can't think of another soul who deserves this position more. Welcome, Commissioner Stottlemeyer!"

"Leland! You knew this last night and didn't say anything?" Adrian said with a gasp of admiration.

Leland smiled broadly and nodded at Monk "It was a surprise." he said, as the men around the table applauded.

"Thank you, Mr. Mayor" said Carter. "And thank you to the fine men of the SFPD. I have one more thing to say It isn't an announcement. Really, it is an offer.

Mr. Monk, we have studied your work for years and years. You are second to none in our industry. In spite of personal adversity and great loss, you have never lost the drive to see that justice is done and you've used your tremendous abilities to make our world a safer and more just place.

In my hand, I have an offer letter. You don't have to answer right away, but it comes from the very top, President John Stoddard. He would like for you to move to the East Coast and become the lead investigator for the Criminal Division of the DOJ. This would not be a desk job. Rather, you would have an active investigatory role in solving some of the nation's most difficult crimes. It comes with a substantial pay package, and, I think this may appeal to you - your headquarters would be out of Boston."

Carter walked over to Adrian and handed him the letter. Adrian just stared at it not knowing what to think.

"Mr. Monk, your talents are too great to spend them solving homicides in one little city. The nation needs you. I hope that you will accept the President's offer."

Adrian thought it through for just a few moments and then looked over at Leland.

"Leland, what do you think? I mean I think that Natalie will jump at the chance to be closer to Julie, but this means moving away from everything I know." Adrian said.

"Buddy, what I think is that you've earned this, and that with things the way they are your work with the SFPD Homicide division is done. I can't think of another man in this entire world I would rather have in a role like this, including myself." Leland said proudly.

Adrian turned from Leland and looked at the letter, and then he looked back up at Jonathan Carter.

"Chairman Carter, thank you so much. I will have to talk to my wife, but I believe she will be fine with this. So, pending her unexpected veto, I accept!"

The room applauded and Carter adjourned the meeting for the day. As people filed out of the room, Leland helped Adrian up and handed him his crutches.

Adrian looked at Leland and smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Commissioner. I sure am going to miss you." He said, fighting back emotion.

"I'm going to miss you too, Monk. But, I imagine this is not goodbye. We will see each other on vacations and such, and eventually we both have to retire. My boys have both moved to the East Coast, and TK has a couple of siblings up there as well. Right now, I have a job to do here. One I have wanted for a very long time. But, I can see a similar move of my own in the not too distant future."

"Then that's how I'll look at it. This isn't goodbye. This is see you later." said Adrian.

"Absolutely. You're not getting rid of me that easily." Leland said with a smile as the two men left the conference room.


	24. Chapter 24

The ride home was quiet. Adrian was trying to think of how he would break the news to Natalie about the new move. They stopped by the store and picked up a few things for dinner that night, and Adrian bought some new cleaning supplies as well as twice the number of trash bags than he normally would have. Natalie didn't notice, but he knew they would need to be downsizing all of the stuff they had in their apartment as they prepared for the move out East.

Finally, when they reached the house, Natalie looked up at Adrian and squinted her eyes.

"How did things go at The Alliance?" she asked.

"Fine. Really very good. They announced some big things." He said.

"Like what?" she asked, putting the produce into the refrigerator.

"Tommy Briggs is the new Police Captain." He said.

"Really! Wow, that's a great promotion for Tommy. A good move for San Francisco." She responded.

"And…the Mayor was there." He said.

"Oh, he was? And what did the mayor have to say?" she asked.

"He made the announcement that we have a new Police Commissioner… Leland Stottlemeyer." He said with a smile.

"OH, YOU'RE KIDDING!" she said. "Oh, my goodness! I have to call the Stottlemeyers and congratulate them! This is so wonderful! He had to have known this last night and he didn't say anything?"

"Nope." Adrian responded.

"That little booger!" she replied. "Wow, that's amazing news."

"There's more." He said.

"More?" she asked.

"Yes. Please sit down." He said.

"Okay." She said as she sat down in a dining room chair.

"Natalie, I know how much you've been missing Julie. I mean, things are good with us. Really good. But I still can see how sad you are that she is gone." He said.

Natalie looked down and shook her head in acknowledgement.

"Natalie, they have offered me a job." Said Adrian.

"A job? Who is they?" asked Natalie.

"The President. President Stoddard." Said Adrian. "The President wants me to join his administration and be the lead investigator for the criminal division of the DOJ."

"You're kidding! Oh Adrian, that's amazing!" she said.

"And there's more…" he said.

"More?" she asked.

"Yes, my headquarters will be…wait for it…in Boston!" he said.

Natalie wasted no time but jumped up from the chair and threw her arms around Adrian, causing him to lose balance and fall on the floor. He didn't even mind.

"Oh, honey I'm sorry!" she said, as she tried to get off top of him.

"No. It's okay!" he said, as laid flat on his back holding her there. "Then you're okay with the move?"

"I am more than okay! This is the best news I've heard all day!" she said, planting kisses all over his face and then one long sensuous kiss on his lips.

Just then, the phone rang.

Natalie, jumped up and ran to go get it.

"I need to get this!" she said as Adrian tried to get up from the floor.

As she talked on the phone in the other room, he pulled himself onto a chair and looked around his apartment and remembered all of the history that resided in those walls. He remembered the time he had with Trudy, and then his time of emotional paralysis following her death. He remembered Sharona taking care of him, and Leland staying with him following Leland's divorce. He remembered meeting his step brother Jack Jr. there for the first time, and when Natalie entered the room and accepted the job as his assistance. He remembered his good friend and neighbor, the quirky Kevin and his sad demise. He remembered having a dog, and the seat he sat in when he had little Tommy. So many memories. So much to say goodbye to.

As all of these things ran through his head, he was startled back to the present when he caught a glimpse of his wife's face. She looked ashen and in shock.

"Natalie. What is it? Are you okay?" he asked, standing up and walking by her side.

She looked at him in a daze, and then squinted her eyes at him just studying his face.

"Natalie, say something. You're scaring me. Are you okay, sweetheart?" he asked again.

"Yes. I…I am fine." She said, walking over to the dining room table and sitting down. "I just got off the phone. It was my doctor."

"Your doctor? Oh no. I think maybe I should sit down." He said, sitting in the chair across from her. "Is it bad?"

Natalie blinked and shook her head. "No. It's not bad. Shocking, but not bad." She formulated a thought.

"Adrian, I have a question for you. Do you always have to make things an even number?" she asked.

"Huh? What?" he asked.

"Adrian. Honey. I'm pregnant!" she said.

"What?!" he said, about falling out of his chair.

"Yes. That was my doctor. She said my hCG levels are elevated and that there is a very good chance, that I'm pregnant with twins!" she said.

"Twins?!" was the last thing he said before he passed out cold onto the floor.


	25. Chapter 25

Natalie held Adrian's hand tightly as they walked up to the obstetrician's office for her first ultrasound appointment. Because of her age and recent health issues, she was considered to have a high-risk pregnancy, so they would give her special physical and dietary instructions while she was there. It was with excitement and apprehension that she brought him with her, knowing that she would forever regret it if they didn't share this moment together.

Holding the door open for her, Adrian winced the moment he entered the office. It wasn't the room itself that made him uncomfortable, for they had made every attempt to give the waiting room a homey feel - with plush couches, a decanter with fresh lemon water, and a television which played some talk show that appealed mostly to women. No, it was all of the other stuff that had been placed in the room. Specifically, the brochures and magazines, that spoke of private topics such as sexual disfunction and feminine dryness and the latest birth control methods, were what made Adrian want to crawl out of his skin. As hard as this was for him though, he kept telling himself that he was doing this for Natalie, and that he just needed to 'deal' with being uncomfortable for a while because she was going to be 'dealing' with being a bit uncomfortable later on. The little self-pep-talk almost worked.

He took her jacket for her and held her by the hand as she sat down. She could already tell that she was going to be facing an over-protectiveness unlike any she had ever seen, and had resolved just to ride it out. She tried to remember that this pregnancy was taking Adrian far out of his comfort zone and tried to brace herself that the results of this fact might be somewhat unpredictable. She needed to be patient.

"Do you need anything? Are you comfortable? Can I get you some water?" he said in rapid-fire nervousness.

Deciding that indulging him a little might calm his nerves, she asked him if he would get her some water. He happily accommodated that wish. Walking over to the credenza, he picked up a plastic cup and began to dispense water into it. As he did so, he looked up and saw a poster on the wall which illustrated, in graphic detail, how a woman should perform her monthly self-exam. He froze and just stared straight ahead, not blinking or moving until Natalie's voice broke the trance.

"Adrian! Are you alright?! You're spilling water all over the floor." She said, standing up and taking the water from him.

He looked down at the floor, ashamed and embarrassed – not so much because he had spilled the water, but because he had actually _looked_ at the poster. Natalie put her hand on his arm and asked him again, "Adrian, are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine. Sorry." He said, looking down.

She looked over by the credenza and spotted what had so distracted him and bit her lip to avoid bursting out in laughter. Oh, this was going to be a long several months.

"Come on over here and sit down by me." She said, looping her arm through his arm, in her comforting manner, and walking him back over to the couch.

For the next ten minutes, he assiduously avoided looking around at anything, but rather just sat there next to her looking down at his hands and the floor and occasionally looking over and smiling at her.

* * *

As they entered the exam room, the nurse asked Natalie to undress and put on a little paper gown. Adrian turned his back and began to stare at the wall, only to see a similar poster as the one before. He quickly rushed over by a window and began looking outside through the blind.

"You okay there?" she asked, as she folded her clothes and hopped up on the exam table.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just never realized there was so much pornography in a woman's lady-doctor office." He said.

"Adrian, that's not pornography. That's science." She said.

"Natalie, the woman in that picture was nuh-nuh-nuh-nuhnuhnuhnuhnuh…." He said, with an out of control stutter.

"Adrian, I get it. It made you uncomfortable. It's okay. Why don't you come over here and sit by me. In just a few minutes, we are about to see your offspring." She said, patting the chair next to the exam table.

He walked over to her and sat down.

"About this procedure…tell me, is there going to be blood? Because you know how I do when I see bodily fluids…" he asked.

"No. It is a simple and painless procedure. She will spread a little gel on my tummy and then our babies will appear up on that screen right there." She explained.

"Right there?" he asked.

"Yes. Or at least their image. The babies will stay inside." She said, in case there was any doubt.

* * *

A knock came on the door and a young woman, not much older than Julie, walked into the room.

"Hello, Mr. Monk! I'm Emily Baker, Natalie's doctor." she said, sticking her hand out to shake his hand.

He twitched his neck and reluctantly shook her hand. As he walked over and used the Purell dispenser, she turned to Natalie and said "I was so excited when I got the endocrinologists report. How have you been feeling?"

Natalie answered. "Great. I feel better right now than I have in months. Thought maybe the medicine was doing it." She said.

The doctor flipped through some charts.

"Looking at your thyroid levels, they appear to have normalized so you're probably correct. A side effect, or benefit, of getting those levels normalized is that previous problems with fertility can resolve, especially with the use of Levothyroxine. In fact, sometimes the drug is administered along with other treatments for women with fertility issues. Looks like you got lucky and didn't need any additional treatment at all." said Dr. Baker.

Putting the charts down, she pulled up a chair and Natalie motioned for Adrian to sit down as well.

"I'm guessing your doctor explained to you that the elevation of hCG levels at this stage in pregnancy is a possible indicator that we're having twins? Right?" Dr. Baker asked.

"We're?" asked Adrian.

"Figure of speech honey." Natalie said, patting his hand. "Yes. She said there was a good likelihood."

"Well, let's see what we have going on in there." Dr. Baker responded.

As she rolled the ultrasound cart over by Natalie's bedside, Adrian's eyes drifted between the machine and his wife. How could she be so calm? It about one minute, they would receive confirmation that their lives were changing forever. Were they ready? Well, if they weren't it's too late now. Adrian's stomach was in knots.

Dr. Baker pulled out a bottle full of gel. "This might be a little cold." She said apologetically.

As she squirted the gel all over Natalie's belly, Adrian couldn't help but notice how flat her tummy was. She had always had a lean frame, but she looked absolutely tiny in that moment as her tan skin was exposed and the doctor rolled the device all over her stomach.

In a moment, his thoughts were interrupted by the doctor's voice.

"There they are!" she said with a little awe.

"Ohhhhh" Natalie gasped. "Honey, look!"

Adrian squinted at the screen for all he could see was a grainy grey surface and two black circles with undefined grainy grey rounded shapes inside of them.

"W-what am I looking for?" he asked.

"There! Don't you see them! It's the twins." Natalie said, trying to make him see what he simply couldn't.

"Oh. Yeah. They are right there." He said, trying to fake that he knew what he was looking at.

Natalie rolled her eyes. "You don't see them."

The doctor grinned with recognition. "Here, just a second. I'm going to do something that will make it clearer." She said.

Adrian breathed a sigh of relief andwatched the doctor pull out a longer wand-shaped object.

"What is that?" he asked.

"This is a transducer." She responded. "I'm going to use it to get some images from Natalie's insides and take some measurements."

"Um…w-why do you n-need to do that?" he said.

"Sir, it's standard protocol. We need to check and see where the babies are in their growth." She explained.

"B-but…c-can't you just do that from the outside?" he asked.

Natalie looked up at him. "Honey, the doctor needs to do her job."

"Natalie, I don't want her to hurt you." He said.

Natalie smiled at his innocence and sincerity.

"Sweetie, she isn't going to hurt me. She just needs to get closer to the babies to make sure they're okay. It's okay, Adrian. Really." She said holding his hand.

"Sir, this is entirely painless. Only a little pressure." Dr. Baker said reassuringly.

Adrian took a deep breath and nodded his head. Looking at the screen he watched the same grey grainy surface move around until it was pierced through by a black circular region.

"That is the gestational sac. It is filled with fluid. That is the black part." said the doctor, as she zoomed in even closer. In a short time, a more well-defined shape appeared. "And there is baby number one."

This time, Adrian could make out more of the baby's shape, particularly as the doctor pointed the different parts out.

"Right here is the baby's little head, and that's its body. And right there, you can see its arm buds, and its legs, and if you look closely, right here, you can see its heart beating…ooop…did you see that? The baby moved!" she said as Natalie bit her lip and Adrian stared silently in amazement.

"Oh, Adrian! That's our baby." Natalie said with tears in her eyes.

He looked briefly down at her and smiled, gripping her hand even tighter, then looked back up at the screen.

"I'm going to get some measurements here. Just a second…" the doctor said.

As she took the measurements, Natalie asked,"Is the baby healthy?"

"Looks good so far." Dr. Baker answered. "Just a second, we're going to listen for the heart beat."

Adrian and Natalie looked at each other as the excitement grew. Soon, they heard a distinct sound, like a rapid whooshing and tapping sound going of in an even succession. That was all it took. Tears began to flow down Adrian's face, and then Natalie's as she saw how overcome with emotion he was and as she witnessed that they were indeed parents of what appeared to be a very healthy baby.

As the doctor repeated the procedure for the other baby, Adrian had to retrieve his handkerchief since the tears kept flowing. Down his cheek, off the end of his nose, it was simply the most precious and amazing thing he had ever seen. There were no words to say that could express the overabundant love and joy he felt in that moment for not only those two little ones but for their amazing mother. And to think, they made those two little beans together. He had once seen this with puppies and wondered what God was doing. In that moment, he knew that God was bringing his much-loved creation in on his own Creative process – and it was amazing. Consider it, "mind blown."

* * *

After the appointment, they took a little time to walk along the bridge overlooking the Bay. Holding hands, they were both immersed in a feeling of sweet amazement, as they thought about the enormity of all that they had just experienced. It was one of those moments where saying nothing at all was more than enough. In fact, words would have spoiled the moment, since their souls communed together like inseparable segments of the same beating heart . As they walked close enough to the railing for Adrian to touch each and every lamp post, a soft breeze caressed their faces and enveloped them in a delightful warmth. When they reached the pinnacle of the bridge, Adrian wrapped his arm around Natalie's shoulder and they stood quietly overlooking the water.

Soon, they would say goodbye to this city that they knew so well, but the memories would remain. This was the town where Providence would have them meet, fall in love, and where their children were conceived. It would be sad to say goodbye. But they knew that such changes were inevitable and embraced the adventure which would soon unfold. For Adrian and Natalie, this was only the beginning.


End file.
